Wraith and Love: Broken Curses
by t.j.guard
Summary: Prince John is dead and Bae is rebuilding his relationship with his father, but the fight isn't over. For one, they still need to return to the Enchanted Forest. And then there's the matter of the fairy tale characters being trapped in Storybrooke. But all that can be handled. Right?
1. In the Middle of the Night

Wraith and Love: Broken Curses

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time

Further Disclaimer: All opinions expressed by the characters within this work are what I view might be the opinions of the characters giving them when placed in the situations in which they have been placed. Excuse me if my personal opinions may have seeped into this work, which very well may have happened due to the nature of authorship.

A/N: Set a few months after Wraith and Love

In the Middle of the Night

Bae snapped his eyes open and stared into the darkness, willing his heavy breathing to be as quiet as possible. Half-remembered images floated at the edge of his consciousness: a knife in a woman's hand, light flashing off the blade; Regina's face, half of it cloaked in shadow; a sword swinging in a wide arc.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the images string together into anything meaningful. His breathing returned to normal, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He scanned the room, with its matching dresser and bureau, various items strewn about, and the bed.

Bae had had a hard time getting used to the bed, since he spent months sleeping on dirt and his entire life before that on a cot with a thin straw mattress. This one had metal coils inside, and while it was quite comfortable, it felt very strange to him.

Bae sat up and stared into the bedspread. Again, it was something alien to him, but he tried not to dwell too long on these things. His father and Jefferson, the man in the mansion with Belle, were keeping him out of Regina's hands.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and padded over the carpet, suddenly anxious for a dirt floor. The floor of the hallway was hardwood. Close enough. He walked down the hall to another door and knocked on it. Morraine answered almost immediately. He slipped inside. "Couldn't sleep either, I see," he said, turning to face her. Her back was to the door, her hand still on the knob.

"It doesn't make sense," she said.

"What doesn't?"

"The collection of images. You know, the knife, the woman-Regina was her name, I think-the sword."

"You, too."

"Oh, gods, Bae. What do we do? How do we figure this out?"

"I don't know. The images are from hardly-remembered dreams."

"Do you feel anything?"

Bae closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath to center himself. He took another such breath, calming his every fiber and letting his mind float. The curse that shelled the town and cut it off from the rest of this nonmagical world was severely damaged but miraculously keeping the residents of the Enchanted Forest in Maine. Within the sphere swirled magic fueled by what he thought felt like true love. The magic was there, yes, but something about this world kept it from becoming terribly overt.

And under all of that, he felt something else. The magic fueled by fairy dust that had powered the Enchanted Forest and, so far as he knew, the realms beyond. And it felt close, almost within reach.

Softly, he mouthed Morraine's initial, and she grabbed his upper arms as he ever-so-slowly pulled back into himself. She helped him to his knees, and he lay his head on her shoulder. Her cheek rested against the side of his head, and he sighed. "I assume you like me better when I'm not covered in dead wraith," he said, a dry smirk on his face and in his voice.

"Yes, I do," she replied. "No use in lying about it."

"Dead wraith is disgusting."

"I did want to puke, come to think of it, but it kind of tasted like home."

"Sheep shit, rotten crops, donkey crap," they said in unison, "all over some nice cobblestone notes, maybe some earthy tones like grass and flowers." They laughed, and Bae pulled back and looked into her eyes. She smiled and looked down. He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips. Her smile brightened and lost all shyness. She kissed him again, and they stood.

"Alright, Bae," she said. "We're not going to sleep any time soon, so let's figure out what we know."

"Right. Well, we're in somewhere called Storybrooke, Maine, which is drifting closer to the Enchanted Forest. I can feel two sources of magic: true love, and fairy dust. Regina has apparently been arrested, which may be the cause of the closeness between the two realms."

"With two sources of magic, this should certainly be interesting."

Bae nodded. "But the woman with the knife. I get the sense that the knife is familiar, but I can't tell from where. The light catching the blade is an obstacle."

"Did you see the woman's face or just her hand?"

"Just her hand."

"So I'm not the only one. We're nine now, but the prince is dead, and so is Fallon. No more wraiths to be covered in upon their true deaths." They smirked. "But Regina is still alive, and she has power here. She'll soon be free. We may drift away again. We might lose our chance to finally go home."

"No, Bae. Don't think like that."

"We don't know if this is permanent or not. The curse keeping this place together is already very fragile, but it could be salvaged." Pieces clicked together in Bae's mind, and he plowed on. "That was why she wanted Papa to kill me. She somehow figured out that he loves me more than anything else, so she must've also figured out that that's what the curse needs to stay alive, as it were. It needs the life of a caster's greatest love. Papa must've designed it, so she decided that he was her last best hope for keeping everyone here.

"The curse must've had more than one level, then. The part that sent everyone to a place without magic is most likely Papa's, if he was out to find me after letting me go, so the part about entrapment, maybe that bit about not having a happy ending and the false memories must've all been Regina's doing." Bae began pacing back and forth as he talked, and Morraine watched with a raised eyebrow. "If this is all Regina's doing, or most of it, then if she dies, we're halfway home, and if we're halfway home, it should be relatively easy to convince Papa to help us get the rest of the way there.

"But if Regina is freed and continues her vendetta, even gets Papa to kill me or anyone else just to save the curse, where would we be then? What if she doesn't get that far, and Storybrooke pulls away from the Enchanted Forest? Are we stuck here forever or-"

"Bae."

"What?" He stopped and spun to face her, his face the picture of innocence.

"You're starting to lose yourself in some hopeless train of thought in which we're trapped here forever."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Of course."

"You really got yourself going there, what with the curse and all. Did you feel all that?"

"Pretty much. The rest I guessed on."

Morraine smirked and shook her head. "You'd better have a lot of faith in your sensitivity, or else we're screwing ourselves over because of you, and you epsecially don't want me to turn on you, Dark One or no."

Bae smiled and nodded. "That's why I try not to move too quickly."

"Good." She walked past him to the window, and then she turned to face him. "Alright, then. Assuming your theory is correct and this woman Regina wants to keep this place as is, she'll have to deal with the serious problem of the two sources of magic beginning to seep through the veil separating the two worlds, if they're as close as you sense that they are."

"And she's still alive and would want that knife back. Either Rumpelstiltskin dies or I do, or Belle, or someone else."

"Which means we have a lot to discuss with the others."


	2. The Recorder

The Recorder

"Are you going to let me out of here at some point in the near future?" Regina asked from the cell. Emma leaned back in her chair, rested a knee on her ankle, and laced her fingers together, letting them rest by her stomach. "Or am I stuck here for no good reason?"

"You refuse to cooperate with me when it comes to shooting that kid," Emma replied. "I can have you arrested for obstruction of justice."

"I don't remember what happened."

"Jefferson does, and so does the boy's companion, who was also his first responder. Want to hear what they have to say? Maybe that'll jog your memory."

"How dare you?"

Emma uncrossed her legs and leaned toward Regina. "I'm doing my job," she said slowly. She returned to her original position and added, "Pleading insanity hardly ever works, anyway."

Regina narrowed her eyes. "It's because of a deal I made with Rumpelstiltskin that I got stuck down there, anyway. I don't remember much beyond that except you trying to arrest me."

"Call you in for questioning. And someone had to have pulled that fire alarm. The absence of a fire was actually rather suspicious."

"That was Rumpelstiltskin. To distract me so he could get those two wraith-smelling brats to freedom."

"I got a good look at one of those kids after the hospital cleaned him up. Looks a hell of a lot like Rumpelstiltskin's son to me."

"Dammit. How is that brat still alive?"

"The better question is how do you know about him?"

"I told you. I have eyes and ears in this town."

"Specifics. How did you know about him?"

Regina lay her arms on the midbar and leaned against it. "I had Glass do a little digging before I locked him up, ironically in the last place he looked. That little nuisance in the cell next to him managed to mutter something about a son before the meds kicked in."

"So that was how you knew, and what he's doing there."

"He's of no more use to me, anyway."

"So just don't talk to him. There's no reason to lock him up."

"He'll talk. He'll squeal to whoever gives him the chance. I can't take that risk."

"You need a great lawyer, then."

"You're going to charge me?"

"At least."

"What the hell? I have rights, goddammit!"

Emma stood and walked over to the cell door, stopping just inches from Regina's nose. "You're not queen anymore." With that, she turned and walked out of the office.

OUAT

Emma slowed as she passed the pawn shop and made note of the sign: 'Closed'. She swore under her breath and sped up again. She turned one corner and then another. If he wasn't at home, then he was out collecting rent, and she had no idea where he'd be if that were the case. That was the only fluid part of his routine, so far as she had gathered during her time there.

She parked along the side of the paved drive leading to a large, black, red, and gold mansion. "So much for subtlety," she muttered as she turned the engine off. She leaned back in the chair and waited, absently drumming her fingers against the steering wheel.

Emma huffed, climbed out of the car, and marched straight to the mansion's front door. She slammed the side of her fist into the door repeatedly, prompting an entirely unexpected voice from behind her. "Do you really need to break down my front door?" Emma spun one hundred eighty degrees to see Gold standing in the middle of the path, one hand resting on his cane and the other in his pocket. He stared at her in weary disbelief. She opened and closed her mouth several times, and he sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked up to the door. She glanced at his leg and frowned slightly but decided to say nothing.

Gold walked onto the porch, bent over to snatch something from the nearest potted plant, and unlocked the door. "Well," he said, "as long as you're here and didn't break anything, please, come in." Emma walked into the foyer after him.

He led her to a small sitting room at the back of the house. The room was dimly lit, but she got the impression that the walls and carpet were dark red. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, and two chairs were positioned facing each other. Aside from what looked to be an unused fireplace, a table between the two chairs, a few bookcases, and a couch against the wall to her right, there were no other furnishings. Gold took a seat in one of the chairs, leaving the other for her. Out of her pocket, Emma pulled a small device barely the size of a business card. He plucked the device from her hand and pressed a button. A smile spread across his face and remained there as Emma's conversation with Regina was played back to the two people in an otherwise empty room.

The conversation ended, and a soft click came from the device. Gold slipped it into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and leaned back. "You certainly know the right questions to ask, Sheriff Swan."

"Part of my line of work," Emma replied. "Why do you want this recording, anyway?" Gold merely smiled. "Goddammit, will you cut the cryptic messenger crap? I thought we were on the same side here."

"We are, more or less."

"More or less? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that for right now, yes, we are on the same side."

"What happens when we're done here? You gonna try to kill me? Take Henry?"

Gold's features softened, and he looked down at the carpet. "No," he whispered. "Not Henry."

"Then what?"

Gold met Emma's gaze. "You don't need to help me, you know. I'm not forcing you to, and I have nothing over you. We're even. But yet, here you are." He leaned back and gestured to the room as a whole. "Rather interesting, isn't it?"

"What's your point?"

"You helped me find my son, my favor as per the deal, and he is safe and well. You could turn on me or cut all ties at any point, and yet, you continue to help me. Why?"

"That's what good people do."

Gold paused, and Emma thought she saw something in his eyes, something like shocked understanding, but it was gone before she could be certain. "Well," he said evenly, "I suppose I should let you go home to your family."

"Are you going to?"

"Unless there's something else."

"I don't think so."

Gold stood. "We'll be in touch." Emma followed him out the door, her mind swirling but no clear thoughts emerging to the surface for even a moment.


	3. Of Curses, War, and Bowmen

Of Curses, War, and Bowmen

Bae, Morraine, Jesse, Tuck, and the five other Merry Men sat in Jefferson's backyard, close to the fence separating the yard from the forest. A tree in the corner provided shade, welcome relief from a high noon sun. "Alright, kiddos, what've we got?" Jesse asked, clapping her hands and leaning forward. Bae and Morraine supplemented each other in telling the other seven about what they figured out the previous night. The others nodded and occasionally whispered amongst themselves. When the couple finished, Jesse said, "Okay, so here's what we've got: a curse with many layers, new magic in a place where it doesn't belong, Rumpelstiltskin and an evil queen in conflict, and, of course, us with the best seats in the house. The eye of the storm."

"That sums it up nicely," Bae replied.

"Thanks. Alright, bigger problems. What happens when this evil queen breaks out of prison?"

"That's my problem, too. If she breaks out, do we lose our connection with the Enchanted Forest and thus all hopes of going home? Conversely, if the queen is killed, are we closer? If so, can we bridge the gap? And where will we end up if we do?"

"You know what I say?" Tuck asked. "I say we cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, why not kick it here for a while?"

Bae narrowed his eyes. "And if we lose our chance to go home?"

"I said, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Bae looked at Morraine, who lay her hand on his and gave a small, reassuring smile. He let out a soft breath and looked at the other Merry Men. "I think Tuck is missing the point," he said. "We can deal with what happens after the curse on this town breaks, when that actually happens, but now, as long as we're here, our mission should be as it was in Sherwood: get home before we're all picked off."

"How do we know someone's going to pick us off?" a Merry Man asked.

"I've got my suspicions about the woman in charge."

"What woman?"

"Black hair, tall-ish, likes to wear what Jefferson calls a 'suit' and shoes with high heels that click when she walks. The shoes look painful to me, so they might make easy targets if we have to fight her."

"Oh, that mean lady?" another Merry Man asked.

"Yes, the mean lady." The Merry Men had a habbit of curtness today, Bae noted. Interesting. "Anyway, we're still in an unfamiliar land, and there's the possibility of going home. I can feel it. Why not take the chance when we have it, before we lose it?"

The other seven exchanged looks and began whispering amongst themselves. Bae and Morraine leaned into each other, waiting for the crowd to come to some form of consensus.

"...and Bae brings up a good point when he asks where we will be when we go back," Jesse said. "Where I'm from, the curse was the end of the golden age and the beginning of ice." This attracted everyone's attention. She went on as if nothing had happened. "When this curse finally gives under the pressure Bae describes it being under, will we end up back in my world of ice, or will we be taken back to when the curse was cast, for the fairy tales to conclude happily like they're supposed to?"

"Can't we just deal with that later?" Tuck asked. Jesse shot him a look, and he looked around and asked, "What?" She backhanded him across the shoulder. He winced and rubbed the injured area, and she turned toward Bae and Morraine.

"Alright, lovebirds," she said. "Any idea how we're actually going to get home?"

"I know someone who knows about the curse. We can talk to him."

"Who?" Tuck asked.

"Rumpelstiltskin."

OUAT

Bae led the Merry Men to the pawn shop, following what he desperately hoped wasn't a flawed mental map and trying to figure out who to ask for directions to Rumpelstiltskin's home if it ever came to that. If there was anyone within reach.

But when they reached the pawn shop, the Merry Men found the door unlocked. Bae and Morraine slipped inside first, followed by Jesse and Tuck and the rest of the Merry Men. They hung by the door, parting when a customer exited the shop and cast a curious glance at them before continuing about his business. Rumpelstiltskin nodded and said, "Bae." Then he turned to Morraine, held up a finger, and added, "Your name escapes me."

"Morraine," she said, fighting the irritation that nonetheless seeped into her voice.

"Yes, I remember now. One of Bae's friends, from the village."

"Papa, can...can we talk to you about something?" Bae asked.

"Of course. You can come to me with anything, Bae."

Bae stepped forward. "It's about the curse. Could...could you tell us about it?"

"Absolutely. Please, come." Rumpelstiltskin gestured to a bead curtain behind him, and the kids filed around the counter and into the back office.

"Wait, are you sure this is a good idea?" Tuck asked. "He could kill us all and there would be no witnesses."

"Most likely not," Bae said.

"How do you know."

Rumpelstiltskin stopped and turned toward the crowd. "Who in their right mind honestly thinks I'd intentionally harm my own son?" A jolt went through most of the crowd, and Bae bowed his head to hide his wince.

"Had to say it," he said through his teeth.

"You didn't tell them?"

"I didn't want to. I finally started having friends again and I didn't want them to start freaking out and running off scared."

Bae looked up when his father didn't respond, only to find Rumpelstiltskin nodding, his lips pursed and his eyes gentle. "I won't hurt them," he whispered.

"Thank you," Bae replied.

"So, what do you want to know about the curse?"

"We're...we're all trying to get home. That was our mission in Sherwood, besides staying alive. If there's anything you know about it that would help us maybe help break it, that'd be great."

"The task of actually breaking the curse falls to Emma Swan."

"See, may as well kick back and ride the wave home," Tuck said.

"Will you shut up?" Bae snapped, turning on the Merry Man.

"What? This is what I've been saying all along."

"You didn't let me finish," Rumpelstiltskin said, sending ice through the room with his voice alone. "A battle is coming, though I can't say where or when. My impressions are more vague in this world. But I will say this: our darkest hours will swiftly become our finest."

"That's the best you've got for us?"

Bae buried his face in his hands. "I give up on you," he muttered.

"We can't read too much into it without more information," Morraine said. "Could you give us some background on the curse?"

"I'd be happy to. Simply put, I designed it to trap a bunch of fairy tale characters in a world without magic, with the escape clause of Miss Swan, the product of a union in true love, so that it would be broken twenty-eight years after its casting. Regina modified it so that no one would be happy save herself. The memory part was mine, though. It gets confusing with two lives in one's head. I see how Jefferson went insane, but he wasn't all there to begin with, as I understand it."

"So I was close, about the curse," Bae said, before his father could ramble on any further.

"Close how?"

Bae licked his upper lip and said, "I felt it. I can...I can feel these things." Rumpelstiltskin raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly. Bae wanted to slap himself for being so careless. First his identity, then his power. What next? he wondered wryly. His entire life story, from birth up to the current moment, in excruciating detail? Oh, gods, he hoped not.

"You're a sensitive?" Rumpelstiltskin asked in a voice meant only for Bae.

"It's not exactly a secret," Bae replied. "I merely choose not to talk about it." Rumpelstiltskin nodded again, adopting that quiet, patient expression Bae had caught earlier.

"From what I gather," Morraine said, "our greatest opportunity to contribute is as bowmen in the upcoming battle. I'm assuming it's against Regina?"

"You're a smart young lady," Rumpelstiltskin said.

She nodded her thanks. "If the battle is won, we may return to the Enchanted Forest?"

"That's the theory."

"Any idea where or when?"

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged and shook his head. "Not a clue, dearie. I'm not as good as I used to be."

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Bae asked. At Rumpelstiltskin's nod, the Merry Men filed out into the pawn shop proper, huddled into a circle in the corner, and began whispering amongst themselves. "Should we do this? I know our mission should be to return home, but this is serious. We're talking about a fight between good and evil, and a lot of ambiguous characters will have to choose sides. Even if Papa didn't describe it by telling us that our darkest hour will become our finest, I can tell by the way he talked that this is huge. We could very well die, and evil could very well win. Can we take that risk?"

"Why do you guys have to drag me into this?" Tuck asked. "I thought this was over when we broke the ring and the prince was killed."

"In case you haven't noticed," Morraine snapped in a harsh whisper, "look at the world we're in. Look at the town we're in. This isn't the Enchanted Forest. This isn't home. The journey isn't done."

"Fantastic," he muttered.

Bae bit his lip, his mind flashing to the thought he'd had that the worlds might drift apart again. Something else accompanied the idea, that perhaps he and his father should stay, if given the option. But he couldn't leave the others. "Talk about a rock and a hard place," he muttered.

"What hard place?" Morraine asked.

"Nothing. I was thinking aloud." He looked at the other Merry Men. "I'll ask you again. Can we take the risk? Actually, I should be asking, should we take the risk?"

"Both are valid questions. Should we take the risk? I believe so. Can we? Well, I think that's a question of the nature of each and everyone of us around you. It's a question of character, ability, and ambition, and it can only be answered individually."

"But if war comes, should we do it?"

"Yes," Jesse said. The five others gave similar signs of agreement, followed by Morraine's curt nod.

Tuck sighed and said, "Fine, but if I get killed, I'm haunting you guys."

"You'll do fine," Jesse said. "I've seen you fight."

"Alright," Bae said, and he pulled away from the circle. The others followed and filed back into the office. Rumpelstiltskin had waited pateintly, seeming to have not moved one iota since the Merry Men had left.

"We've come to a consensus," Morraine said. "Look for us if you need bowmen." She turned and walked out of the office. Six others nodded and filed out of the office after her, leaving Jesse and Bae.

Bae smiled and said, "We'll be around." Rumpelstiltskin returned the gesture, and Bae walked out of the office, leaving Jesse alone with the Dark One.

"Well, dearie, can I help you?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Actually, I have a deal to keep to, or my mom does," Jesse replied.


	4. Jesse's Deal

Jesse's Deal

Rumpelsiltskin blinked at her, his face blank for a moment, and then recognition took over.

Jesse smirked. It was about time. The two had been in contact for over a week and he'd finally noticed. Granted, to her, it had been nearly four years since she heard the story. But she could see in his eyes that he didn't know her from Adam. "A maid told me the story," she finally said. "My mother offered her firstborn daughter, a long time ago, in exchange for control of the Enchanted Forest after the curse. But she slipped something in there, to ensure that she would always bear sons. That's why it took so long, and that's probably why you don't recognize me. You vanished with the golden age over three centuries ago, my time. She thought she'd gotten out of it."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded in understanding. "And yet, you're willing to come with me, even now?"

"I believe in honesty, and according to the stories, so do you."

"But...look at you. You have a life ahead of you, friends. And I don't even remember what I originally wanted you for."

"Does that matter now? You said it yourself. A war is coming. Your original purpose might no longer apply, and besides, I'm here now, as per the deal."

"Yes, you are, though your mother probably thinks you're dead. You did find yourself in Sherwood, after all."

"Then let's get to it. What do you need me for right now?"

"I'll make you a deal," he said after a moment.

"Don't you always?"

"Come to think of it, yes, yes I do."

"What are your terms?"

"Well, you're ready to jump into this."

"My mom made some deal with you about me. I've got nothing to lose but my life, and if it comes to it, if I have to survive, I'll fight you until one of us lies dead, most likely me, but I've always wanted to die trying."

"It's not your life I want."

"Then what is it?"

"A favor, to be called in sometime later."

"Sounds easy, but then again, I doubt you're going to keep it that way."

"I've got a feeling you'll be up to the challenge," Rumpelstiltskin said with a smile. "Now, you know what I want from you. What do you want from me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Isn't that not how deals work? I get something out of it, and you get something out of it."

"So in exchange for a favor, you'll give me something?"

"Exactly. Feel free to name it."

"Well, the trouble is, in any negotiation, you tend to want the better end of the deal. How do I know that's going to happen if your favor remains nameless."

"And all this time, I thought you hadn't negotiated before."

"I had to bargain for my life several times in the past." He nodded, so she continued. "I had a purpose in Sherwood, fighting for a cause, be it life or freedom, or even to return home again, and those were some of the greatest years of my life. If we make it through this and I find myself facing my mother again, I want you to make sure she never pulls me back into her world, her cold, cruel, meaningless, shallow little world that she so dearly loves to call home. I'll give you your favor, Rumpelstiltskin, but in exchange, I want you to keep me out of my mother's world." She held her hand out in front of her. "Do we have a deal?"

He shook her hand, and the corner of her lip curled up. "You've a nice handshake."

"Thanks." Jesse turned and walked out of the office.

OUAT

"What was that about?" Morraine asked when Jesse appeared on the street corner where the Merry Men waited for her.

"I had to negotiate a few things," Jesse replied.

"Let's hope it works out in your favor," Bae said.

"He'll probably ask for my firstborn or something." Jesse shrugged. "I can take it."

"You're taking this well," Morraine said.

"Honesty's the best policy, and besides, I get something out of it, something I've wanted for a long time."

"Is it worth it?" Bae asked. Jesse folded her arms and gave him a nonchalant shrug, and they went on their way.


	5. Archery, Relationships, and the Ever Pre

To Guest: Jesse's story will be revealed in time, and her mother in Wraith and Love 3, where *SPOILER ALERT* she will play a major role *END SPOILER ALERT*

Archery, Relationships, and the Ever-Present Deal

"Bae, is it?" Belle asked nervously when the Merry Men slipped into Jefferson's mansion and made their way past the doorway to the foyer where she waited.

"Yes," Bae replied, taking a step toward her.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for some time, but...could you teach me to shoot?"

"Absolutely. This way, please." Bae turned and walked toward the back door, taking his bow in his hand as he walked. Belle kept pace, and they walked into the backyard, a few Merry Men behind them, most likely out of curiosity. Jesse was among them. "Jesse, may I borrow a knife?" Bae asked. She pulled a knife from one of the hilts on her belt and handed it to him. He lay his bow on the grass and walked over to the tree, where he carved out a makeshift target in the bark. He returned the knife to Jesse, picked up his bow, and began to talk Belle through the process of firing an arrow.

OUAT

Gold brushed past the woman behind the reception desk at Storybrooke General Hospital, straight for an exit, or so it was called, and slipped through the doorway. He moved down the stairwell to another reception desk. "I'm sorry, but I have to-" this woman began.

"Stop me?" Gold finished for her. She froze.

"Please don't be angry with me. I'm trying to earn a living."

"I understand."

"May I help you?"

Gold produced his wallet, thumbed through it, and handed her a bill. "Care not to tell anyone about why I'm here?"

"Absolutely."

"Thank you."

She nodded to him, and Gold walked down the corridor. He kept his gaze on the doors until he reached the one labeled 'S. Glass'. After a quick glance down the hall to ensure that he was alone, he opened the door.

"No, please. I swear I didn't steal the apple pie," Sidney shouted, shooting up from the cot and backing away into the corner.

Wow, he is high, Gold thought. He edged forward and held a hand up. "It's alright," he whispered. "I'm not here to blame you for anything."

Sidney relaxed. "Then...what do you want?" he asked in a much lower voice.

"Information," Gold replied. "In fact," he drawled, stepping forward and studying the ground, only looking up after a moment, "I'm willing to make you a deal." Sidney stepped out of his corner, and the corner of Gold's lip curled up. This could be very profitable indeed. "I'll get you out of this wretched place and keep you away from Regina-"

"What makes you think I want to leave her?"

"She's been using you from day one. It's a miracle you haven't figured that out yet."

He blinked once, and Gold waited patiently. "If you're going to give me my freedom," Sidney began tentatively, "what do you want in return?"

"As I said, information."

"On...on what?"

"Regina. Anything you know, everything you know, or else the deal's off."

"Don't leave me here."

"Keep your voice down. I'll give you your freedom, but you have to be completely open with me. If I find you haven't, I'll send you back, and we both know you don't want that."

Sidney watched Gold warily, something about the pawn broker's smile putting him off, but Gold was offering him freedom, from Regina and the daily overdose of medications offered at the institution. For a brief moment, he smirked, wondering how he wasn't dead yet. Gold's smile warmed slightly, and he relaxed. "To be clear," he began, "you're going to get me out of here if I tell you everything I know about Regina."

"Yes."

"Then you have a deal."

Gold's smile widened. "I guess it does pay to be patient."

OUAT

Belle and the Merry Men filed back into Jefferson's mansion just before the sun set, Bae and Morraine taking up the rear. "That was well done," she said. "I couldn't have taught her better myself."

"Really? Several times I thought I'd have to ask you to help me explain something," he replied.

"She's picking it up well enough."

"Same time tomorrow?" Belle called over her shoulder.

"If you want," Bae replied.

Morraine smiled. "She seems to like you."

"She seems a good and gentle soul, but bound and determined to make a name for herself, but then, who doesn't?"

"Even so, you might get along well."

"We might."

"But?"

Bae sighed. "I'm not sure how I feel about her relationship with my father."

"What do you mean?"

"Something doesn't...feel right."

Morraine stopped and faced Bae. "Are...are you sure?"

"I can't say, but I keep getting this impression that perhaps she feels an...obligation to him? Like I used to."

"You?"

He nodded. "I wanted to change him back some way. I felt almost like I had to, like it was the only way to have a relationship with him. Maybe she feels the same way."

"Bae, things are different now."

"I know."

They hung near the back door as the rest of the group dispersed. "But it still doesn't sit well with you."

"Papa lost my mother, and he lost me, or let me go, however you want to look at it. I'm not sure if I should let him lose anyone else." She gave him a sad smile and pulled him into an embrace.

"It's alright," she whispered. He gave her a gentle squeeze, nodding in agreement.


	6. Death on the Night Watch

Death on the Night Watch

Someone knocked on Bae's door, awakening him from an uneasy sleep, and he opened the door a crack. "Your turn for watch," Morraine said. He nodded, slipped out, and closed the door behind him. She walked back down the hall, and he glanced in the other direction. Satisfying his paranoid side that he was now completely alone, he returned to the room for his bow and quiver and walked back downstairs and out the back door.

He climbed the tree and edged forward on one of the thicker branches, making his way toward the roof of the mansion. Once he questioned the ability of the branch to hold his weight, he judged the distance between himself and the roof, and he jumped.

His foot landed on the shingles, and after another step, he let out a breath. He walked up to the top and sat cross-legged, his eyes on the paths leading to the front and back doors and his ears peeled for any sign of unusual activity.

For a long time, the only sound he heard was the breeze rustling through the leaves of the trees about town, the occasional car driving in the distance, and some wildlife in the woods surrounding Storybrooke. For long stretches of time, the town was completely silent, or the sounds were so soft he couldn't hear them. The breeze barely ruffled his hair.

His eyes drifted to the clock tower silhouetted against the sky, blocking out some of the stars, and he had the impression that it was supposed to be ticking, but it wasn't. Odd, he thought, but then, machines did fail to work properly. His father had said as much discussing the car and its mechanic with him in the woods. Perhaps the clock tower needed a mechanic, too, and no one in Storybrooke qualified.

A pair of lights pierced the darkness, jerking Bae from his musings, and he stood and armed his bow. The lights turned and moved down the path, and he crept down the side of the roof, careful about where he placed his feet in order to avoid slipping and tumbling off the edge.

The lights stopped, and as Bae's eyes adjusted, he noticed the outline of a car, that familiar but ever-enigmatic piece of this new world that he found everywhere he looked. Two figures stepped out of the machine and approached the door. Bae aimed and watched the two figures approach the front door, wondering where to place his first shot to best get to the two of them. One stepped barely in front of the other, and the corner of Bae's mouth curled up. He released the string.

The arrow slid into the first figure's shoulder and barely nicked the jacket of the second. Both looked up at him, and he scrambled up to the top of the roof, grabbed another arrow, and took aim. The figures had drawn guns, it took a moment for the word to come to him, and aimed at him. He backed up and crouched behind the peak of the roof, his bow still ready. Something rang off the edge of the roof, making him jump and slip deeper into the shadows. The memory of being struck in the shoulder by an invisible projectile rushed back to him.

He peered over the edge of the roof and tried to glimpse the two figures, but he was too far from the edge to do so. After a long moment, he heard nothing, so he crept back to the front edge of the roof. The figures had disappeared inside the mansion.

Bae jumped off the edge of the roof and landed on the sidewalk. Then he slipped into the foyer. He didn't need to listen very hard to hear the men's clumsy footsteps on the second floor, but even as he rushed up the landing, the two snaps of bow strings told him he wasn't needed.

The second-floor hallway was crowded by the time Bae reached it. The two men, one still with his arrow in his shoulder, were hunched against the wall and the railing, respectively. Belle and Morraine stood facing them. The former had lowered her bow and stepped back, breathless, her eyes fixed on the victims. Morraine walked briskly toward Bae. "I woke her," she said before he could utter a syllable.

"So you heard them," he replied. She nodded.

"I told you that you taught her well."

He cast a glance Belle's way. "Try not to bring this up with her. The first kill is usually quite shocking. Let her try to recover form it first." She nodded. "Their car is still out front." She nodded again, and they walked downstairs.

The kids walked out to the front path and approached the car. Morraine cast Bae an uncertain glance, and he nodded his reassurance. He opened the passenger door and looked around inside. In front of the passenger seat was a small compartment with two buttons on the handle. He pressed the buttons and pulled back. Aside from a few papers that seemed completely meaningless to him, the compartment was empty.

Morraine walked up to the car and paused beside him as he searched. Then she opened the door next to him and felt around underneath the back seats. "All clean back here," she said when she finished.

Bae climbed over the center console to the last seat that remained to be searched. She sat on her knees, her hands folded in her lap as she watched him as well as the seats allowed her to. After a few moments, he returned to a sitting position and looked at her. "There's nothing here to give us any clues," he said. "That means we need to return to the bodies."

She swallowed, but she nodded resolutely.

OUAT

With Jefferson's help, Bae and Morraine had searched the bodies for anything that may be of use, gotten Belle to calm down enough to try to get some sleep, and prepared to move the bodies and get rid of the car. Morraine tried several times to coax Bae to go to bed, but she got the same response every single time: "And how do you expect me to sleep?" She finally rolled her eyes, gave him a playful shove, and gave up on him.

As soon as dawn arrived, Jefferson called Mr. Gold and summarized for the pawnshop owner what had happened during the night. "I guess the question now is, do we just drop the bodies somewhere deep in the forests of upstate Maine or do we have to talk to somebody about it?"

"We already have enough trouble," Gold replied. "Take the bodies as far into the forest as you can. Have a couple of the Merry Men guide you. They know this sort of environment well. Do not, under any circumstances, give anyone a clue that anything happened here last night. You and whoever else participated are the only ones to know."

"We can't keep a secret forever."

"We don't need to. We just need to hold out until Emma does her job." Jefferson swallowed. He never did like to think about exactly what breaking the curse entailed. "Whoever you have guide you, make sure they know this, as well."

"Got it." After a brief moment, he said, "You do know where my daughter is, right?"

"Yes."

"Just checking. I don't want you pulling a Regina on me."

"There is only one time I didn't keep my end of any of my bargains. You can sleep easily."

"Good to know."

Jefferson hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. If he wanted to get those bodies and that car out of his mansion without attracting too much attention, he needed to move quickly.

He walked out of the foyer, into the living room, and took a seat on the ottoman in front of Bae and Morraine. "I need your help."

OUAT

Bae, Morraine, and Jefferson picked their way back down the slope of a hill, their backs to the sun and their time spent cooking up the story of a hike to explain their dirty clothes. Jefferson even had an excuse for the hike that Rumpelstiltskin was likely to agree with: he wanted the kids to get some fresh air after being cooped up in the mansion for so long.

When they returned to Jefferson's car, Bae finally sank into a deep sleep, much to Morraine's relief, and when they returned to the mansion, she helped him up to his guest room and lay him down on the bed. She slipped out of the room to find Jefferson standing in the hallway. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," she managed before turning on her heel and walking to her own room.


	7. August

August

Bae stirred, his dreams interrupted by the faint touch of the overt use of magic somewhere across town. He rolled over, willing the faint impression to leave him so he could get some sleep, but a lot of good that did him. The impression began to bug him incessantly, until he threw off the covers, marched over to the window, threw it open, and dropped to the ground below.

The impression was slightly stronger, and he had a better sense of direction. He followed the sensation down Main Street, pausing only briefly to get his bearings. He turned a corner and wove through side streets, following the feeling of magic in use.

The sensation was strongest at a brick building with window-lined walls, particularly on the south side of the building. Bae stared up the side of the wall, particularly the series of ladders, stairs, and platforms that made its way to the roof, still following what he was feeling.

Several floors up, he stopped on a platform. The window was closed but the curtains were open. A wooden figure lay on a bed, with a woman in black standing over him, her head bowed so far that she couldn't see whether or not her lips were moving. Bae turned his gaze toward the wooden figure, who seemed from his perspective to be the size of a normal human. Who carves a person out of wood, anyway? he wondered, unless it was intended to be a life-size puppet or display object. But if that were true, then why was it lying in someone's apartment?

Numerous absurd and obscene thoughs crossed his mind briefly before he successfully quashed all of them, no matter how humorous or how much they made him shudder.

The woman looked up, and Bae ducked. The feel of magic in action ceased to trail through the air, and when Bae dared to peek up again, he thought he saw a sly smile on the woman's face as she turned away and walked out of the apartment, leaving the wooden figure on the bed.

The figure stirred, and Bae jumped and shot back before mentally swearing at himself. "Why am I surprised?" he muttered. He looked back at the window, beyond which the figure continued to move, as if getting up after lying prone for days or weeks on end in sickness, which may have happened. It was a conscious being, made of wood. Okay, Bae thought, I've been covered in weirder.

He tapped on the window.

The figure turned toward him, revealing a wooden, blue-eyed face. Human being made of wood, Bae thought. Getting close to the other weirdness I've experienced, but not quite. The wooden man walked over and opened the window, allowing Bae to enter, which he did reluctantly.

"So, kid, what're you doing outside my apartment?" the wooden man asked.

"You...you talk?" Bae rasped.

"Uh...duh."

Bae looked around and then sank into the nearest chair, at a desk with a strange, blocky object on it. "You're a walking, talking wooden man."

"I think we established that." The man folded his arms across his chest, allowing Bae to notice the joints.

"You're a walking, talking puppet."

"And you're pretty slow on the uptake."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. You didn't answer my first question. What are you doing outside my apartment?"

Bae took a deep breath and gave the human-sized puppet a once-over. This had to be the first time he truly considered telling a stranger about his gift, but there was no sense in lying about it, especially when he didn't even have a half-decent excuse to use as a substitute for the truth. "I'm a sensitive," he said. "I can feel magic."

"So you're here because you felt magic?"

"Yes, in use at that. It woke me from sleep and led me here."

The man nodded slowly, regarding Bae dubiously. "I was out cold, as good as dead," he said. "Who was using magic?"

"A woman dressed in black. I didn't get a good look at her face, but she did seem pretty smug when she was done and in the process of leaving."

"Did she have dark hair?"

"I think so."

The man let his arms fall to his sides. "The only woman fitting the description of dark-haired magic user that I know, besides Regina, is the Blue Fairy."

"You know her, too?"

"Yeah, she made me a real boy, so long as I was brave, truthful, and unselfish. How do you know her?"

Bae paused. "Well, I have this relative who's a magic user, except he's...evil. I came to her for a way to remove his access to his powers without killing him."

"You mean your father?"

"How do you know?"

"A Merry Man told me."

"What did he look like?"

"She. Kinda baby-faced, long blonde hair." Bae frowned. "Recognize her?"

"She was a friend of mine, back in my home village. Where did you meet her?"

"She disguised herself and said she had to get me out of the city and onto an island-bound boat as soon as possible. Some Stromboli fella was trying to get me to do some song and dance for the city nobles, said it would make him rich."

"What did he look like? Brown hair, brown eyes, a fondness for dressing in yellow?"

"Yeah."

"Then Stromboli doesn't exist. That's Prince John, and he was about to kill you."

"Wait, Robin Hood's Prince John?"

"Yep. You're a strange case, you know. Usually children taken to Sherwood are dumped in the forest and left to fend for themselves, but since you're a living sideshow puppet, I assume he took a special interest, wanted to study your habits a bit. I'm not sure where the island part came from, but islands typically are safe havens."

The man backed up and took a seat on his bed. "I've gotta get this straight. If I was sent to a city, how come it looked so..."

"Shabby? Well, have you noticed certain denizens walking about in dazes?"

"Yeah, come to think of it."

"The prince created Sherwood to entertain him. Roughly half the people in the city are trapped in their own little worlds. The other half are forced to watch the prince's sick games, or worse: participate in them. You, being such an interesting case to him, were also trapped in your own world, and others were probably forced to watch. The prince wanted you to work, wanted to watch you closely and perhaps entertain his courtiers with you. When you let him down, which was inevitable, he was going to kill you.

"A child in the city is remarkable, so word did, inevitably, reach us. We sent our best in to retrieve you. The illusion probably didn't break until you were out of the city."

"And you know all this how?"

"This was the first mission they went on after my arrival. They talked a lot about it afterward, M and her escort."

"M? That short for anything?"

"If she wanted you to have her name, she would've given it to you. Names are powerful, after all."

"Okay, makes sense." The man leaned back slightly and studied him, pursing his lips. A wooden man can purse his lips? Bae wondered, knitting his brow. "Whatcha thinkin', kid?"

"Just that if the circumstances were different, I probably would've passed out by now, but I've been covered in wraith, so it's really no surprise that I'm holding a conversation with a magical puppet, initial shock aside, of course."

The man smirked. "I like you."

"Thanks. I think I like you, too."

"Well, that's good. If your father's some evil magical being, I don't want you hating me. I like my bodily arrangement exactly as it is, save the fact that I'm a puppet."

"I won't tell him. I tend not to."

"Thanks." The puppet put his hand in the space between himself and Bae. "Call me August."

"Bae," the boy said, taking the wooden man's hand. Then he paused. "You...you feel faintly like...like a deal with...with Rumpelstiltskin."

"What?"

"All magic comes with a price. You might not even know yours." Bae blinked and took a breath to steady himself. "It's strange. She didn't weave a price into the spell." He pulled his hand back. "I'd be careful if I were you." He stood and walked toward the window. "I need to go."

"Okay, kid. I'll see you around."

August waved and watched Bae slip out of the window. After he closed it after him, he turned to the apartment door. That Bae kid sure acted strangely when they shook hands, but then, he said he was a sensitive, and the only reason August was walking around right now was because of magic, which led the kid to his apartment in the first place.

He walked over to the bed and lay down, covering his face with his arms. He hadn't been up more than ten minutes and he was already exhausted. But he couldn't let himself sleep. He had to figure out how he was going to get back to his life.


	8. Kidnapping

Kidnapping

Bae made his way back to Jefferson's mansion, his mind on the promise of a decent sleep, when he heard the distinct _thwap_ of a bow string. He stopped and turned toward the sound, relaxing only when he realized that Jesse and Belle were practicing archery on the sidewalk, aiming at a crate with a carved target on it.

"Jefferson suggested a slight change of pace," Belle said, barely looking at him.

"And nothing says 'change of pace' like shooting a fruit crate in full view of the neighbors," Jesse added with a smirk, twirling a knife through her fingers.

"Except maybe stabbing said fruit crate," Bae replied, smiling.

"So, where did you go? You're supposed to be sleeping."

"I was stirred from sleep and had to see something. Now I'm going back to bed."

"Good."

"Don't let us keep you," Belle said, readying another shot. Bae walked toward the mansion and heard the arrow hit the crate before closing the front door behind him. He padded up the stairwell and to the bedroom he occupied, and he was asleep almost before he sank onto the bed.

OUAT

The phone rang, and Henry snapped his head up from _Once Upon a Time_, almost carelessly tossed it aside, and yelled, "I'll get it," as he dashed down the stairs and slid through the doorway into the kitchen. He snatched the phone from it's cradle and said, "Hello?"

"Henry?"

"August! I-"

"Shh. She'll hear you. I'll explain everything when we meet at the lumber yard. Remember where that is?"

"Yeah."

"Meet me there in fifteen minutes."

"Okay." The line went dead, and Henry replaced the phone in its cradle and moved toward the door.

OUAT

August leaned against a stack of logs, watching as Henry ran up to him. "You're early," he said.

"She's in jail," Henry replied. "You don't need to-you're all wood, and you're alive."

"She did it, she broke the curse."

"She made everyone remember, but somebody else brought magic back."

"Then I missed a lot."

Henry looked over both shoulders and whispered, "It was Rumpelstiltskin. He brought the magic back, and now we can use it again. All of us."

"That means Regina." A dark look passed over the boy, and August read it cover to cover at once. "She could break out at any time, but why isn't she?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe waiting for just the right moment?"

"Or trying to throw together a desperate plan." August looked at Henry, trying his best to portray confusion and hoping Henry could read the face of a puppet. Henry stood next to him and looked out over the yard, watching the workers. "She shot a kid a while ago, in the shoulder."

"Black hair, brown eyes, about sixteen, kinda baby-faced?"

"Yeah."

"She's screwed."

"Why?"

"That's Rumpelstiltskin's son." Henry shot him a confused look. "I met him today, and I pretended to be him once. Once upon a time." August smirked and looked over the yard. "I saw how much Rumpelstiltskin loves his son. Regina made herself a dangerous enemy."

Henry bit his lip. "The curse requires the heart of the thing the caster loves most. Maybe she's trying to save it somehow by trying to involve Rumpelstlitskin's son and maybe Belle, too."

"That's a pretty desperate move. Must mean we're almost home."

"Yep, and that means bye-bye to Regina's happy ending."

"And hello to ours."

Henry nodded in agreement. "But she could still break out. We've gotta be real final about it, you know?"

August nodded. "Yeah." Even he knew about the white elephant in the room, in spite of the coma he'd been in for the past month, if he had to guestimate how long he was out. He didn't relish the idea, but he knew that certain things had to be done, and there would be a time, place, and person for them.

"You okay?" Henry asked.

"Huh? Yeah. Fine. Just thinkin'."

"About...it?"

"Yeah."

The kid nodded in understanding, and August allowed the subject to drop. "So," Henry finally began. "How do we tell Emma?"

August turned his head toward him. "Tell her what?"

"That you're a human-sized wooden puppet that walks and talks as if by magic. I mean, I know she believes, but I think she's a little overwhelmed."

"I can see that. In a world like this, where nobody thinks that stuff exists and where, for a long time, I was tempted to believe it, it's gotta be hard to get used to."

"But at least she believes and Regina's in custody."

August nodded in agreement.

OUAT

Images again flashed before Bae's eyelids, and they were familiar ones, but instead of Regina holding the knife, it was an ice woman, her face dead as a corpse, her eyes frozen over.

Bae jolted into alertness to find a dim room and an equally hazy recollection of why it was so. Until he remembered that he'd been roused from sleep by his power as a sensitive and the fact that magic had been used purposefully and willfully, and for something so powerful, pricy, and serious as bringing someone-a wooden puppet, no less-back to life. He remembered holding a conversation with the puppet, who called himself August and who knew a good deal of his story, told to him by Morraine.

He felt no anger toward her, though he thought he should. She probably needed to tell him stories in order to keep him with them, successfully break him out of that terrible city, destroying his hallucination and getting him to safety. It didn't strike him as odd that she would pick one she was intimately familiar with so as to be as detailed as possible. And it didn't matter, anyway. What's done is done.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around the room. Then he looked at himself, at his long-sleeved shirt, tee shirt, and trousers. The most normal outfit he could find, he mused, not for the first time. He smirked when he realized that he still smelled faintly of wraith, but his smirk faded when he thought back to why he was awake in the first place. The woman holding the knife was no longer Regina, and he was certain it was a sign of some form.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and slipped outside the room, until three sets of hands shoved him back inside. "What is it?" he asked.

"Shh," Morraine whispered urgently, shooting a look at the door. Jesse and Tuck flanked it, the former with a knife in one hand and an arrow in the other, and the latter with an arrow all but drawn and ready to loose.

"What is it?" Bae asked again, in a lower voice.

"Something's happened downstairs. We've been instructed to stay here."

"What's going on? Has something happened to Jefferson and Belle?" A cloud passed over Morraine's eyes. "Oh, no."

"That we remain here was his last instruction before..."

"Where are the others?"

"In another room."

"Did you see who..."

"Thugs dressed in black. If I had to guess, Regina hired them."

"From captivity?"

"You'd be surprised what some captives are able to do."

Footsteps approached the door, and Morraine tensed and pressed Bae close to her. Bae could've sworn his heart stopped for a moment or two, though he couldn't be sure if the exact cause was fear or excitement. Jesse tightened her grip on her weapons, and Tuck pulled back into a draw.

The footsteps stopped, and now Bae was certain his heart was beating erratically out of fear. Morraine tightened her grip on him, but he didn't seem to notice. The entire room was still and heavy. No one dared to breathe but in the most silent way possible. Bae wondered if he'd closed the window behind him when he slipped out that morning, but he dared not look over his shoulder to check.

Morraine shot a look to Jesse, who nodded to Tuck, slipped the arrow back into her quiver, and reached for the door knob. Jesse's knife arm tensed and coiled as she slowly pulled back the door. Tuck turned his arrow toward the crack and loosed it. Jesse lunged for the door, wrenched it open enough to drive her knife toward the assailant, and had the door slammed down on the wrist.

She cried out. "Window, now!" Bae shouted. Tuck bolted, but it took Bae a little doing to get Morraine to leave him. He moved toward Jesse and pulled her free and toward the escape route. The door was torn open, almost off its hinges, as a black-clad beast of a man with a bloody arrow in his hand and a stain on the shoulder of his jacket burst his way into the room.

Morraine pulled Bae behind her and through the window, jumping off the sill with him in tow. As soon as they landed, Bae looked up at the window, where the man was just becoming visible. "We have to get to the others," Bae whispered.

"Too late, buddy boy," a Merry Man said. Bae faced the speaker, a scrawny kid two years younger than him with his arms folded across his chest to make him look tougher than he actually was. Behind him, four other kids stood at various distances from each other and the mansion.

"Well, Robin Hood," a girl said, taking a step forward. "Where to next?"

"The forest," Bae replied. "It's the only safe place for us." The window overhead shattered.

The kids launched themselves over the fence and radiated out from there. Bae moved to follow them, but Morraine stopped him and pulled him around to the front gate. "Where're we going?" he asked.

"Trust me," she replied. "There's only one safe place for the two of us."

"Yes, the forest."

"No, Bae. You're safest with your father."

"But you're not."

"I'm not going anywhere without you. Not now."

Bae fell silent and followed her down several streets and around a few corners, and then he recognized the path to his father's pawn shop. Despite himself, he breathed a sigh of relief. Morraine slowed, and Bae slid to a stop in front of the shop. She nodded to him, and they slipped inside.

The space behind the counter was empty, but the sounds of a brush moving across paper drifted through the bead curtain leading to the office. They padded through the shop to the back office, and Bae pushed some of the curtain aside to allow them entry. Rumpelstiltskin lay the brush aside and stood, looking at them calmly, almost without expression. "Bae, Morraine, a pleasure to see you again," he said. "What brings you here? You look like you've both seen monsters."

"Something terrible has happened," Bae whispered.


	9. In the Back Office

In the Back Office

Rumpelstiltskin gave his two visitors a quizzical look. "Excuse me?" Bae repeated what he said. "What do you mean? Is Belle safe?" Bae blanched and choked on his own words.

Morraine stepped up to his side and said. "She's been taken, along with Jefferson. The struggle woke us from sleep, and Jefferson instructed us to stay in the upper level and keep together. That was the last we heard of them. One of the thugs stayed behind and came for us. We left him back at Jefferson's, wounded in the shoulder."

Rumpelstiltskin walked over to the shelf, opened a small rectangular box, and removed his knife. He turned to face the kids again and said, "This is the last you'll see of him." Bae moved toward him, but Morraine lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Let him go," she whispered. He took a step toward her and watched his father breeze past them and out of the office.

OUAT

Gold parked in front of the mansion and slipped out of the car. He didn't bother with his cane. He didn't want to make any noise while he worked.

The front door was ajar, and he glided through it without too much movement of the door in question. The mansion was silent, but several shelves, tables, lamps, and other miscellaneous items were disheveled and broken, strewn about the foyer floor in all but a few places. He picked his way to the stairwell when he heard the faint sound of someone whispering on the phone. "I tried to get to the kids, but they're Robin Hood's lot. They found a way...Okay, so my patch job is supposed to be enough? I got shot with a frickin' arrow. I could be infected...No, I don't want to be fired. You know how much Gold charges for rent?...Oh, fine. I'll do it."

The man snapped his phone shut and gingerly pulled the washcloth away from his shoulder. His gaze drifted up to the door as it creaked open, and his eyes widened.

Standing in the doorway was Rumpelstiltskin, knife in one hand and a wicked smile on his face. Rumpelstiltskin approached him, grabbed him by the collar, and slashed his throat.

OUAT

Emma adjusted the jacket on the back of her chair and shifted her position before returning to sorting files. Two footsteps came from the office door, and he looked up at a young woman with blond hair and a bow and quiver strapped to her back. "This is the right place, right?" she asked.

"For what?" Emma asked.

"I asked where I could go to report something bad, and the nice woman at the restaurant pointed me here."

"What do you need to report?"

"A kidnapping."

OUAT

Bae and Morraine walked around the back office, examining the shelves and the odds and ends that they contained. Many were objects neither could recognize, much less name, but some look like wands, spindles, or small statuettes. Bae reached out and tried to feel anything on the objects, but nothing doing. Everything in the room felt completely mundane.

Something flickered at his awareness at the same time the bell at the front door rang. Bae and Morraine exchanged looks and then turned toward the doorway and the bead curtain, behind which was the rest of the shop. "Hello?" August asked, and Bae relaxed.

"We know him," he whispered, walking through the curtain.

"Hey, kid." Morraine appeared beind Bae. "M, I take it?"

"That's what they call me," Morraine said. "I take it you finally did become a real boy, for a while, at least."

"For a while. I haven't exactly been a good one, though."

"What're you doing here?" Bae asked.

"Henry needed a lift back into town. Regina's thugs appeared at the lumber yard, and he needed something fast."

"But don't you have to be hidden? A talking, human-sized puppet is a tad...unusual, magic or no."

August shrugged. "They're all gonna find out eventually. I can't exactly hide the fact that I'm a walking puppet forever.

"Well, I gave you my reason. What're you doing here?"

"Jefferson and Belle have been kidnapped," Morraine said.

"Wait...who's Belle?"

Bae walked around the counter and led August to the back office. Morraine shot him a look, but he said, "We want as few people knowing as possible." She nodded in understanding. Once all three were back in the office, Bae turned August to face him and said, "Belle is my father's girlfriend, to be as simple as possible, which makes her a target of Regina's, because it seems she's still desperate to maintain her hold on Storybrooke and make sure she still comes out on top."

August nodded in understanding. "We're talking about the woman that shot you in the shoulder, right?"

"How'd you know about that?"

"Henry told me."

"Henry? Who's Henry?"

"He's a ten-year-old, the mayor's adopted son and the Savior's biological son. Oh, and he's able to leave if he wants, like me and Emma, but I doubt they're going anywhere."

"The Savior and Emma are the same person, correct?"

"Yep."

"Besides everyone's memories, which have been restored, what else needs to be saved?" Morraine asked.

"Remember Jesse's time?" Bae asked, turning to her. "There was a golden age ending with the curse, and then an age of ice. It could very well be that once we finally return to the Enchanted Forest, or what's left of it, we have to try to find a way to restore it, if there is anything left, or forge a new Enchanted Forest."

August's eyes shifted between the two kids. "Sounds like you two are really thinking ahead and trying to process a lot of things at once," he said. Even to him, it sounded like a shot in the dark. "If you need help trying to figure any of this out..."

"You said Emma was the Savior, and I'm to assume Emma is Emma Swan, who visited us at the inn when we first came here," Bae said, turning toward August. "What do you know about her role?"

"Easy. She breaks the curse, we're all supposed to go home. And if true love's kiss can't break a curse..."

"Trying to kill the caster will," Bae replied in a low, dark voice.

"What happens when the curse is broken? Do we go home?" Morraine asked hurriedly.

August shrugged. "That's the theory."

"The other theory is that we get sent to a world full of ice and snow, much like the one said to lie beyond the Black Forest," Bae said.

"Anybody care to fill me in here?"

Bae sighed. "Why bother? It might not even matter whether we fall into the Black Forest or not. We might end up back where this curse started, for all we know."

"Seriously, what the hell is going on?"

"What does it look like?" Morraine snapped. "We're trying to figure out what would happen to us after the curse is broken, especially given the manner in which we showed up: in the middle of a night rainstorm, after the Ring was broken. Clearly we're a special case."

Bae held up his hands and stepped between them, his eyes on Morraine. "There's no need to fight those who, at least for the time being, are on our side. Infighting does us no good when we need men and arms." She stepped back, and he turned to August. "According to Rumpelstiltskin, a war is coming, and we as bowmen may be needed. Perhaps you will, as well. Odds are we won't make it back alive, but if we need to fight, we have to be able to fight."

"I guess some things don't change."

Bae spun toward the doorway, just in front of which stood his father. His eyes drifted across the dark stains along the front of Rumpelstiltskin's suit, and he barely managed an "Um" of some length before Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers and the stains disappeared inside a small cloud. "Of course. Sought your revenge?"

"Started to."

"You know what? I'm not even going to say anything. We've got other things to deal with than your...tendencies."

"We do?" Morraine asked.

"Regina operating from her prison cell, the kidnapping of Jefferson and Belle, and any potential attempts by Regina to break out of prison and take your knife and kill me or Belle or both or somebody else, or all of us, just to win this fight and have her happy ending, which really isn't all that happy, come to think of it. Anyway, we can deal with Papa's tendencies when we finally get this curse broken, if he lives through this war."

"Rousing speech, kid," August said.

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes moved to the puppet. "Pinnocchio, alive and well, I see. The Blue Fairy must have need of you for some reason." Bae stepped toward Morraine. "Either way, as long as you associate with my son, if he is in any way even remotely harmed because of you, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"Papa," Bae said.

"Because of him doesn't necessarily mean on his watch," Rumpelstiltskin said, turning his gaze toward his son.

"Still. Just...don't do it unless you really need to?"

"I won't," Rumpelstiltskin whispered with a curt nod.

"Alright, the matter's settled, for now. We have to find kidnap victims, and something tells me you're not likely to stop until you finish having your revenge or you have a comparable reason, so for now, we'll let those go hand in hand," Morraine said. "The only theory we have at this point-and due to the lack of evidence we have to treat it like a theory-is that this is Regina's doing, so we have to think like her. Where would we keep two valuable hostages?"

"The mental ward," Bae, Morraine, and Rumpelstiltskin said together.


	10. Ogre

Ogre

Rumpelstiltskin, Bae, Morraine, and August filed into the hospital through the back entrance and made their way to the "emergency exit" and down the secret flight of stairs to the mental ward in the hospital's secret basement. August coughed and held his arm to his mouth. "What is that smell?" he asked.

"That, my friend, is wraith stench," Bae replied without looking back. "Just as sickening as ever."

"It's a miracle you didn't pass out."

"I almost did, but I did throw up."

"I would, too, if there was anything in my stomach. If I had a stomach."

"We can discuss the merits of human anatomy later," Morraine snapped. Despite himself, Bae blushed and felt the need to clear his throat.

"I'm sure my son would love to hear your opinion on the subject, Morraine," Rumpelstiltskin said.

Bae's blush deepened. "Papa! You're embarrassing me!"

August and Morraine started to chuckle, and Rumpelstiltskin said, "That's my job, Bae." The two burst into outright laughter, and Bae bowed his head to hide his shame.

"Let's just keep going," Bae muttered to the hard cold floor. Rumpelstiltskin wrapped an arm around his boy's shoulders, and Bae looked from the floor down the length of the corridor. "Alright, Papa. Where're we going?"

"We're going to check every room in this labyrinth," Rumpelstiltskin replied. "Labels lie just as well as anything, or anyone, else."

Rumpelstiltskin lowered his arm, and Bae turned toward Morraine and August. "Do we split up to cover more ground, or do we keep together in case of attack?" he asked.

"This is a tricky question," Morraine said. "I can see the tactical advantages of both options, but we're involved in a hostage situation. Every moment counts. I suggest we break off into pairs."

"Who goes with who, then?" August asked, his hands in his pockets.

"I'll stay with Papa," Bae said. "I don't want to find later that one of you has died."

He paused, glancing at Morraine, and she said, "Bae, I'll be fine. I stand more of a chance than puppet-boy against ogre guards, anyway." She gestured to August with her thumb and smirked.

He smiled in response. "Let's go," he said. August and Morraine nodded, and he turned back to his father. They walked down the corridor, and footsteps behind him told Bae that August and Morraine had retraced their steps and then taken another turn.

OUAT

Rumpelstiltskin stopped in front of a door, and Bae tried to feel something but found nothing there. "Be careful," he said to his father. "I can't tell anything." Rumpelstiltskin nodded and reached for the handle. The lock clicked on contact, and he pushed it open easily. Bae glanced at the wall beside the door frame. The label was blank.

Then the footsteps came. Bae turned toward the corridor, lit by tubes of light, but not very well. "Bae, Rumpelstiltskin," Morraine yelled as she appeared at the end of the corridor.

"M, what happened?" Bae asked. She slid to a stop and almost ran into him as he held out his hands to catch her. "What happened?"

"It's huge," she said through heavy breathing. "It's absolutely gigantic."

"What is?"

"Bae..." She pointed the way she had come. A second set of footsteps could be heard, and in the dim light, Bae could see August almost slam into the wall. "I know what I said about ogre guards," she said, "but this is twice the size of anything I'd ever seen."

"Is it an ogre?"

"I-" August took off in their direction, followed quickly by thuds that shook the entire structure. Bae guided Morraine to the open door, grabbed August, and shoved him through less ceremoniously before slamming the door shut behind him. Now he faced the shocked and confused face of his father as well as the fearful faces of Morraine and August. "I don't know what that thing is and I have no desire to find out. Except possibly at a very, very safe distance."

Rumpelstiltskin's eyebrows drew even closer together, but as the thuds continued and increased in volume along with Bae's heart, he found himself at a loss for words.

The thuds stopped much too close for comfort, and Bae's ears rang from the silence. His heart hammered in his chest, but it was nowhere near as loud as the giant's now-absent footsteps. Morraine stared over his shoulder at the door, and Rumpelstiltskin's eyes were fixed on his son. August had taken a couple steps back.

If Bae listened patiently, he could've sworn he heard lumbered breathing on the other side of the door. A moment more of silence, and the great beast shifted its weight, shaking the subterranean structure along with it. Bae met Rumpelstiltskin's gaze; Rumpelstiltskin held up a hand and tried to soothe his son without words. The beast groaned, and Bae's heart skipped a beat. Rumpelstiltskin moved to him and grasped his shoulders. Bae let his father pull him close, and he tried to relax, but with a giant lumbering beast not three feet from him, it was extremely difficult. Rumpelstiltskin lay a hand on the door, and Bae sensed the faint aura of magic.

It seemed the beast sensed it, too, because the door shook with a blow that was more felt throughout the room than heard. Rumpelstiltskin and Bae, by consequence, stumbled back. Rumpelstiltskin tightened his hold on the boy. August and Morraine shuffled to the back wall. It seemed the beast tapped on the door, because it fell away from the hinges and clattered on the floor. Rumpelstiltskin released his son and stepped between him and the fifteen-foot-tall ogre standing beyond the doorway. "Oh, gods," Bae muttered. "That thing is huge."

"But it's still an ogre," Morraine whispered, drawing Bae close to her.

"Are you armed?"

Morraine reached behind her and slipped a small knife from her belt. "Jesse slipped it to me back at Jefferson's. You know how she is about Black Forest creatures."

"Or any creatures, for that matter."

"In any event, based on the village stories, this thing definitely looks Black Forest."

"But it's still an ogre. I'll get you as close to its throat as I can. August, Papa, we have a plan, but we need you two to distract it."

"What?" August snapped.

"August, please. We know how to kill it. You have to trust us."

"You can get rid of it? Well, fantastic."

"Are you going to help or not? We only have until that thing figures out how to squeeze into this room before we're all dead."

"Are you going to distract it with me or not?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Fine," August said, and he followed the Dark One into the hall.

But then something strange happened. The giant ogre turned toward Rumpelstiltskin and maneuvered itself down to one knee before him. The knife fell from Morraine's hand, and both hers and Bae's jaws hung slack. August seemed as perfectly immobile as a puppet should be.

Rumpelstiltskin smirked, and then he looked at the three, still in the room. "Change of plan," he said. Then he looked back at the ogre and said, "Take us to the hostages." The ogre lowered his head and then straightened and turned to lead Rumpelstiltskin through the corridors.

Bae and Morraine exchanged looks, Morraine stooped to grab the knife, and they moved toward the door as one. August continued to stare blankly, and the kids had to grab his arms and pull him behind them to get him to follow. "Papa," Bae whispered, "what did you do?"

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. "He bowed to me on impulse. I took the opportunity to help us with our little mission. If he knows anything, he'll show me."

"M," Bae said, turning to her, "did the village stories say anything about this sort of response?"

"I've heard rumors that nothing in the Black Forest or from it would dare touch the Dark One, but obey him?" Morraine asked.

"I know. It's strange, but again," Bae shrugged, "whatever's most useful in a hostage situation."

"What are we talking about again?" August asked almost monotonously.

"No," she whispered.

"What?" Bae asked.

"He's getting lost."

"Do we smack him?" Morraine nodded, and they turned toward the wall and drove August's head into it. August blinked and stumbled back.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were losing yourself. Black Forest creatures can do that," Morraine said. "C'mon, let's keep going." The three continued down the hall after Rumpelstiltskin and the giant ogre.

"I need to get this straight. That thing actually listens to Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Yes," Bae replied. "If it leads us to the hostages, all the better. For us and them."

"Heh."

OUAT

By August's estimate, it had been an hour since Rumpelstiltskin had commanded the ogre to lead them to the hostages, and at about that time, the ogre reached the end of a corridor, turned to face them, and shrugged his shoulders. "You mean they're not here?" Rumpelstiltskin asked. The ogre nodded. "Where are they?" The ogre shrugged again. "Well, then. Go back to your post." August, Morraine, and Bae pressed themselves against the wall while the ogre lumbered past them and down the corridor.

"For a moment, I thought you were going to turn him to dust or something," Bae said.

"I can't have Regina getting suspicious just yet. It does help to have her determined enough to make a mistake."

"Well, what do we do next?" August asked.

"We need to keep thinking like Regina. If she wouldn't keep hostages here, where would she keep them?"

"Does Regina have a dungeon?" Bae asked.

"After a fashion."

"Then I have an idea, but we need to split up again."

"Alright," August said. "Let's hear it."


	11. In the Evil Queen's Basement

FURTHER DISCLAIMER FOR CHAPTER: The cloud is evil, so take what some of its incarnations say with a grain of salt.

In the Evil Queen's Basement

August kept his head down as he made his way to the police station, and he slipped inside and, with only a little assistance from an officer milling about with a coffee, found his way to the Sheriff's office. Through the doorway, he spotted Emma and a blonde girl talking. The blonde girl mentioned the victims, Jefferson and Belle, and Augst leaned against the door. "Talkin' about the kidnapping?" he asked.

Both women snapped their heads toward him, and Emma shot back as much as the chair allowed. She blanched, whereas the other conversant was only mildly surprised. "What...August...but...I don't...you...in your room...I was there...save...puppet..." Emma babbled.

"Short version, the only one I'm really sure of the details on, is that the Blue Fairy used the magic Rumpelstiltskin brought back to bring me back to life."

"Oh, yeah," the other girl said, gesturing to him. "I heard your story."

"You have? Oh, so you must be from the future or something."

"How come you two act like this is the most normal thing in the world?" Emma asked.

"Because this place is pretty much cursed," August said. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I want to add my bit to the kidnapping investigation."

OUAT

Bae and Morraine walked down Main Street as casually as they could manage, both trying to remember the exact way to Regina's castle. At one point, when several citizens looked at them strangely, Morraine laced her fingers through Bae's. "They'll ask fewer questions," she explained in a low voice, but Bae suspected that she had an ulterior motive.

A large, black-clad man glared at them, and Bae squeezed Morraine's hand almost instinctively. He watched him, and once they finally passed him, he turned his gaze to their path.

They turned one final corner, and the mansion loomed before them. Morraine released Bae's hand, and he fell in behind her. "Alright, how do we get to the basement?" he asked.

"We go in the way we did before, if we can," she replied, "and then make our way down."

"Alright."

They walked around to the back and spotted the window to the boy's bedroom, just as it had been for their first break-in. "He must know we're working for the same side," Bae whispered.

"Fantastic," she replied, moving toward the wall and scaling it. Bae followed more closely than he had the first time he climbed this wall, and they slipped into the room almost at the same time. Morraine walked over to the door, opened it, and peered out down both directions of the hallway. When she pulled back, she turned to Bae and asked, "Do you feel anything?"

Bae closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "No, but there might be others here who don't use magic."

"Can we get past them?"

"If we're quiet."

"Then let's move."

"Carefully."

"Of course."

Morraine slipped out through the doorway, and Bae followed.

They padded to the ground level and exchanged a look. She walked around the stairs to the living room, in the back corner of which was another door. They crept toward it, and Morraine gingerly worked it open, waiting for it to creak. It didn't.

Morraine glanced at the contents of the closet and shook her head before closing it as gently as she opened it. They slipped back into the foyer and around the stairwell, toward the glass door. Bae placed a hand on her shoulder and gestured to another door, this one right under the stairwell. She nodded, and he opened it as gingerly as she had opened the first door. The chamber beyond was pitch black save the square of light from the other side of the doorway. When Bae took a step forward, he found himself standing on a cold stone platform. He looked over to Morraine and nodded to her. She stepped onto the platform and closed the door completely.

"Sorry," she whispered to him. Judging by the feel of her breath on his skin, she was within inches of him. He blushed and took her hand. He felt around with his toe and then stepped down.

"It's safe," he whispered, reaching out to the wall.

Morraine touched her side of the wall, and they moved slowly down a series of stairs. "Bae, how are we to identify our hostages? This place is black as pitch?"

"By voice."

"What are you, nuts?"

"If there's no other light source, no."

They continued on in silence. The lower the stairwell went, the damper the air and stone became, and the more it seemed as if the darkness would last forever and the stairwell would lead to nowhere.

Finally, when they moved to go down another step, they found themselves standing on another platform. "Did we make it?" Morraine asked in a low voice.

"I hope so," Bae replied. "I have no way of knowing where we are."

"Look." Her eyes drifted to a small, barred rectangle of light straight ahead, several feet above them.

"Sweet light," they whispered at the same time.

"How far under are we?" he asked.

"Not too far, apparently."

Bae took a deep breath. "Hello?" he asked at a normal volume. Something shuffled in the corner. "Anyone there?" The soft shuffling came again. It reminded Bae of something like fabric. "Left," he whispered to his companion. At his previous volume, he said, "It's alright. We're here to help you, bring you to safety." The rustling continued, getting louder. "Are you unhurt?"

"We can help get you out of here," Morraine said, inching toward the corner the sounds indicated. Bae followed closely so as not to lose her silhouette in the terrible light. "Will you give some sign that you can hear us?" The rustling gave one final burst, as if the fabric were collapsing in on itself. Morraine almost backed into Bae. "We should go now. I don't like this."

Bae looked over his shoulder at what he could now see of the stairwell. He lay a hand on her shoulder and guided her toward it, keeping his sensitivity tuned toward what was behind him.

Something drifted over the floor. The hair on Bae's neck stood up. "Do you still have that knife?" Bae asked. She brandished it, and it flashed in what little light there was. The reflection floated across a dark cloud for its brief existence. "We're not alone." She held the knife to the light again, carefully directing the light toward the cloud.

"Another wraith?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Let's get out of here before we can find out."

Together, the kids inched toward the stairwell, Morraine guiding their movements so as to best track the cloud. It still rolled in front of them and maybe slightly to the side, but Bae felt something behind him and lay a hand on Morraine's shoulder to stop her from moving. "It's behind us, too," he breathed. "We're surrounded."

"I've got a feeling we need more than my knife to save us."

"From a sensitive's perspective, yes."

The smoke cloud suddenly swept upward, obscuring the rectangle of light and plunging Bae and Morraine into total darkness. "M? M?" Bae asked.

"I'll try not to leave you if I can help it," Morraine replied.

"What was it using to trick us?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just a thought. If we can unravel its trick, it might let us live."

"Or kill us outright."

"It's worth a shot. Come left with me."

She took his hand, and he moved in what he hoped was the right direction. "You'd better know what you're doing," she said harshly. "If you get killed, I have to explain to Rumpelstiltskin that it's not my fault, and you have no idea how much I don't want that."

"I can feel it, M. I'm keeping track of it." Bae held his free hand in front of him, feeling for the wall, and once he reached it, he felt for the corner and knelt slowly. His hand drifted to the floor and...satin. "I knew it," he breathed.

"Great. Now let's find our way out of this mess before we're killed."

"Alright, alright." Bae and Morraine stood and pressed their backs to the wall, inching their way to the stairwell.

Pain shot through Bae's arm, and he let out a cry and sank to his knees, his arm pressed to his chest. He thought he heard Morraine call his name, but the sound was muffled, or he was hallucinating. He couldn't be sure. Wherever the smoke touched him, his skin stung. It forced him back against the wall, just for want of avoiding contact with it.

Fear settled heavily into his gut. Whatever this thing was, it didn't want him to leave.

"Well, well, well," a cold, chilling voice said. Bae felt a presence drifting through the smoke, and the picture of the beggar that arrived before his father became the Dark One popped into his mind. "It's little Hobblefoot's son."

"What do you want with me?" Bae asked.

The presence chuckled. "You still sound so naive, so childish. You sound like you're going to be the hero and your father will love you."

"What do you know?"

"All he cares about is the power. All he cares about is being important and influential. You should've figured that out by now, with him letting you go through that hell called Sherwood alone."

"And he's all the better for it. He wasn't trapped in a terrible hallucination with no hope of getting out until he was free of the Ring. You know _nothing_ of Sherwood."

"This one is fiery, still very youthfull. Perhaps he needs to be reminded." Out of the mist, an image formed: his father keeping hold of his hand as he dangled over a green vortex. Then, in one moment, the equilibrium, that one moment when he hoped his father would agree to follow, was destroyed. He was released. "He chose his power over you, kid. He let you go so you could fend for yourself. How do you feel about that?" Bae fell silent, and the beggar's presence laughed. "See that, kid? He doesn't deserve you."

"Shut up and get back," Bae yelled, shooting to his feet and bursting forward. The cloud seemed to shrink away from him. "It doesn't matter whether my father let me go or not. None of that matters now, and don't you dare think you can say any different. No matter how hard you try, I will never listen to you."

"Then you honestly believe that he would follow you."

"If he had the means, yes."

"If there was another magic bean, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Not like the Blue Fairy would give it to him. Not like he'd take it." The presence's last sentence was said quickly, and Bae found an opportunity.

"Why wouldn't the Blue Fairy give him a magic bean? I thought she said his magic didn't belong in that world."

"You stupid, snot-nozed, pint-sized little brat," a female voice snapped. Bae turned to his right, where a copy of the Blue Fairy hovered. "Your pathetic excuse for a father was the key to my getting every other magic user in one place and without powers. My only mistake was getting caught up in it, but hey." She shrugged. "Live and learn, and besides, with the magic back, all I have to do now is wait for them to kill each other, and I'll be the only one left standing, and the most powerful. The world will come to me for its magic."

"And what of the lands beyond the Enchanted Forest? Do you have any influence there, or do you simply not care?"

"They already feel my influence, the fey beyond the Black Forest."

"So you don't care."

"Exactly."

"Except, the only way to kill the Dark One is with his dagger, thus acquiring his powers, and the cycle continues. I'm absolutely certain that if what you say is true, you don't want to put up with that." Bae couldn't help but let out a laugh, and he turned in the general direction of the beggar presence, who had yet to show himself. "I take it you're the Dark One before my father. What did he say your name was? I know it was an easy one to remember." He felt the presence flinch. "Ah, yes. I've got it now. You're Zoso. This whole thing is made the spirits of Dark Ones past, trapping me in an evil queen's basement, possibly to die. I've got a question for you, then. What does she have over you?"

The presence, the entire smoke cloud, shifted position. Bae noticed that the copy of the Blue Fairy had disappeared. Bae turned his full attention to Zoso, patiently awaiting the former Dark One's answer. Finally, Zoso sighed and said. "Listen, kid. I've been dead for centuries, and the rest of us, the gods know how long, but because of that goddamn knife-sorry-"

"It's fine."

"Because of that goddamn knife, I've been conscious for every second of it. Regina promised us that we would finally find some peace if I helped her make sure the hostages never get found."

Bae closed his eyes and waited. "I feel your magic, even as a ghost, but I do not feel a deal," he said. "She lied to you."

"Wait...you're a sensitive?"

"You're figuring this out now? I thought all magical beings could feel one another."

"Sometimes it's hard to tell."

"That aside, we haven't found anyone, and you are not officially bound by contract. What sense is there in keeping me here?"

The cloud pulled away from him, for a brief moment revealing the rectangle of light and a crumpled satin dress in the corner of the room, the very dress that had tricked him and Morraine. "The kid's got a point," Zoso said, suggesting that he was talking to someone else, but Bae didn't want to ask about it. "We're not bound the way we used to be. There is no contract this time. We were just ordered, and the promise was an afterthought. Maybe we can make a real, formal deal with the kid. He breaks the knife some kind of ways, in exchange for...whatever he asks for, I guess."

"That makes it sound like breaking the knife isn't as easy as driving it into the trunk of a tree and ripping the hilt off," Bae said to the cloud. "It also sounds pretty dangerous, what with the return of magic and all."

"Oh, it's dangerous, alright," Zoso said, addressing Bae directly. "You break that thing, your father drops dead."

Unless he's dead already, Bae thought, quashing the notion before he sensed that Zoso or any other presence in the cloud could hear it. "I have a feeling there may be a way," he said. "I can't be sure if this is so or if it can be done, but I have a feeling."

"Don't you dare think you're going to drag us all through hell and back on the word of a sensitive," the Blue Fairy copy's voice snapped.

"I suspect possibly that you are all the Dark Ones that were ever slain. But why the Blue Fairy?"

"Wish I knew," Zoso said. "She's not talkin'."

"Alright, I won't ask."

"Anyway, back to business." Bae felt a chill in the air. "You said you can feel a way to break the knife."

"I have a vague notion."

"And you already know that if you break that knife, we can finally get some peace."

"Yes."

Zoso's form, still that of the beggar that Bae was familiar with, stepped out of the cloud, which had shifted again to reveal the rectangle of light. "I say we make a deal, for real. The terms are, you break the knife, however you intend to go about it, in exchange for...well, what do you want?"

Think this through, Bae, he told himself. This is a serious matter, and you don't have a lot of dealing experience. "How do I know you won't go back on me?" he asked.

"We're all former Dark Ones; you said it yourself. We can't break deals. Well, except maybe her."

"The fairy?" The answer was in Zoso's eyes, and Bae accepted it, though he wasn't sure what to do with this little bit of knowledge. If anything, he could ask August about it later. He returned his attention to the deal at hand.

So the ghosts of Dark Ones past can't break deals, Bae thought. But this was still very serious. He bit his lip and eyed Zoso. He probably would've agreed to break the knife, anyway, but someone had proposed a deal, and judging by the chill that had raced up his spine, this was something he couldn't walk away from. He had to seal the deal, but he had to do it just so.

Something flashed through his mind, a fact that was the basis of an idea. He said, "I'll break the knife, in exchange for one favor, to be called in at a time of my choosing. Anything at all."

"Deal," Zoso said, holding his hand in the space between them.

Bae waited a moment more, checking to make sure the surrounding magic accepted the terms, before shaking the ghost's hand. "Deal," he said.

"Well, you get on out of here. Can't do us any good stuck in a basement."

"Thank you."

The cloud pulled back, leaving Bae a clear path to the stairwell. When he reached the foot of the steps, he looked back at the cloud, but Zoso's spirit had rejoined it. He turned back to the stairs and made his way up, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable onslaught of light that awaited him on the surface.

No sooner had Bae reached the top landing than the door burst open with such force that it almost slammed into the opposite wall. He jumped back, almost falling back down the steps. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" he asked, recovering himself and taking a tentative step toward the man standing in the doorway.

"Are you hurt?" the man asked. "Are you unwell? Did anything happen to you?"

"I'm perfectly fine." Bae stepped past the man into the light of the hallway, wincing and waiting until his eyes adjusted. He walked down the hall to the foyer, and another man tried to guide him through the front door, but he shrugged the hand off. His mind was heavy with everything that had just happened, and there were only two people he wanted to see right now.

The sun was much harsher than the artificial light of the castle, but again, he adjusted. A crowd had gathered on the street behind yellow ribbon. He noticed that Morraine's face relaxed upon seeing him, as if she'd been staring at the front door, worried, the entire time he was gone. Rumpelstiltskin and a well-covered August stood side by side a short distance away from her.

Rumpelstiltskin held up the ribbon, allowing Bae to pass underneath, and as soon as he was able, Bae threw his arms around his father's shoulders and buried his face in his neck. Rumpelstiltskin held his son tightly. August's mouth curled into a smile, though neither seemed to notice.

"Can I go home?" Bae whispered.

"Yes, Bae," Rumpelstiltskin replied. "You can come home."


	12. The Cabin

The Cabin

Bae took all of fifteen minutes to explain what happened to him in Regina's basement, all of this across Rumpelstiltskin's table. Rumpelstiltskin, who had spent Bae's tale leaning forward and nodding at all the appropriate moments, settled back when his son finished. "You made a deal with Zoso?" he asked.

"Yes," Bae replied.

"And you asked him if he would go back on it?"

"You're not the only one who refuses to repeat his mistakes." Rumpelstiltskin nodded in understanding. "When I said there was a way to break the knife," Bae said slowly, "I meant it. I never told them out loud, and I made sure they never heard it in my thoughts, but...I think the knife can only be broken if you're dead."

"Bae...are you sure about this?"

"I don't know."

"You were able to force the smoke cloud back, you said?"

"...Yes. Why? Where is this going."

"I'm just thinking back to what I know about sensitives. If you did force the cloud back, then you, in theory, could be able to pull magic in the same way."

"In theory?"

"I won't ask you to try this theory right away, of course, but it might be of use in the future."

"You think so." Rumpelstiltskin nodded. Bae looked down at the table, clasping his hands in his lap. He worried his lip and finally looked up at his father. "You...you think it can be done?" Rumpelstiltskin nodded again. "And if it can't?"

"Then I can rest knowing that you tried."

"What about them?"

"I doubt anyone has tried for them in a long, long time."

Bae nodded. "Can I see August about something?"

"Something that happened to you?"

"Something I saw and heard, more like. I think he might know something relevant."

"Do you, now?" Bae nodded again. "Alright, go." The teenager smiled and left the table.

OUAT

August had just finished bolting his apartment door when Bae appeared at the window. "I guess I'm not getting rid of you," he said.

"Not in the least, apparently," Bae replied. "I need a word with you, if you have the time."

"I've got nothin' but time, kid, but I'd appreciate it if you called ahead first."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry. I forgot. You're new here. Anyway, as long as you're here, make yourself comfortable and spare me from my boredom."

"Being a puppet too hard on you?" Bae asked with a smile. He walked over to the desk and took a seat.

"Emma nearly flipped out when she saw me. There's no telling what else could happen if the others found out I'm a, still alive and b, a puppet."

"Good point."

August sat on the bed. "Okay, kid, what've you got?"

"Tell me all about your experience with the Blue Fairy."

"There's not much to tell. First, she brought me to life, before I ended up in Sherwood and thus the middle of hell. Then, after I tried to save my father from a gigantic whale, drowned, and washed up onshore, she made me human, to find that my father was alive and well. And she told me I've got to be brave, truthful, and unselfish if I want to stay human. And suffice it to say, I haven't been. And I had to be brought to life, again, presumably by the Blue Fairy. Why do you want to know all this?" Bae summed up his encounter in the basement, playing up the emphasis on the Blue Fairy copy more so than when he spoke to his father. "Okay," August said when Bae finished.

"But there's more."

"Go on."

"I have prior experience with her, back in the village, before Sherwood. My father had just become the Dark One, and he was turning people into snails and doing other nasty things for my meeting the slightest harm. M told me about her, called Reul Ghorm and described to me as 'bigger than anything', and I sought her assistance. She gave me a magic bean, said it was the last of its kind, and told me to take my father and follow it wherever it may lead."

"And he let you go."

"Yeah, but for this context, that bit is trivial."

"Really? Wow."

"What matters is how...smooth the ride was. I mean, I know I wasn't much of a sensitive back in the village and was forced to develop it in Sherwood, but even so, if someone pulled me from the path, I would've felt it. It takes a lot of force to do something like that. You don't even need to be a sensitive to know that."

"Okay, so your ride to Sherwood was smooth, you weren't pulled out of your path, nothing went wrong."

"The thing is, she told me I was going to a world without magic."

"I thought fairies didn't lie."

Bae chewed his lip. "In all the stories, they...well, they don't. They find other ways to decieve, but they don't lie outright."

"Sounds like the Blue Fairy decieved you."

Bae looked at August, his brow creased slightly. "And if the Blue Fairy copy really does exist as Zoso's spirit suggests she does..."

"Bae, I think we might have a problem."

"A blue-clad, tiny, flying problem that curiously sounds like a bee. The question is, what do we do about it? We can't jump to conclusions. After all, we're dealing with, if M is right, the ultimate power, bigger and possibly worse than even Papa."

"Possibly?"

"She answered my question about bigger, but not my question about worse." August nodded in understanding. "Look, until we know better, we have to put the Blue Fairy problem aside. Right now, Regina, from her prison cell, has taken two hostages, and it's very likely she hasn't given up on trying to keep her curse together, even if it kills all of us. It no longer matters if she's in prison or no. Her influence is too great. She tried several times now to kill me, or take me alive, or whatever she intends for me, and she knows, or at least senses, that I am Rumpelstiltskin's son. She knows he loves me, and since this curse seems to require what the caster loves most, I would be an obvious target."

"And so would Belle."

"So I take it you've heard about their relationship."

"Are you kidding? It's the talk of the town. Speculation runs rampant, but the core of it, that your dad and Belle have a little thing going on, hasn't changed."

"And that means that Jefferson was only taken because he was a witness to the kidnapping of Belle and refused to leave her. After all, he has a duty to my father to perform. They have a deal."

"Well, I think I saw a cabin in the woods we should check out."

"What about Papa. I just...I mean..."

"You just got started living with him again. I got it. I'll get you there and back in no time at all."

"What if they're there?"

"We busted in on our first move twice now, and look where it got us. We've gotta be ready."

"True. But how do we get there and back in any decent amount of time?"

August tilted his head toward the door of his apartment. "Let me show you."

OUAT

Bae followed August out of the apartment and down the stairs and down to the parking lot. "What is that black steed?" Bae asked.

"That black steed is our ride," August replied.

"Besides that."

"It's called a motorcycle, and it's not exactly a steed since it can't steer or power itself."

"You mean you need to focus on it constantly?"

"Pretty much, but you can learn how to do that and focus on the road."

"It can be done?"

"Yep." August pulled two helmets out of the saddle bag and tossed one to Bae, who was quicker to figure it out than he was with a car door. August swung his leg over the metal steed. "Hop on." Bae took a tentative step forward, studying the beast, wondering if it would run away from him if he got too close, in spite of August's previous statement, or try to kill him in some way if he made contact with it. "C'mon. You don't wanna just stand there all afternoon, do you?" Bae shook his head and walked over to the steed and swung his leg over, positioning himself behind August, thereby being seated on the rack above the rear wheel. "Hold tight," August said, and Bae took fistfuls of the puppet's jacket in his hands.

August started the motorcycle, kicked the stand up, and backed up. Bae's heart jumped in his chest as August rode onto the street and sped up. He felt a pleasant vacancy in his gut, and the wind raced through the hair under his helmet and the clothes he wore. Bae yelled and let out a laugh, and his hold on August's jacket relaxed. August grinned and chuckled, and he turned a corner. Bae tightened his grip for fear of falling off this strangely wonderful machine. "You're doin' good, kid," August said.

"Thanks," Bae replied.

"When this is over, I'mma teach you to ride this bad boy, if you want. If we don't total the bike first."

"You want me to learn how to ride this thing?"

"Yep. I know that kinda joy, kid. Had it myself when I first rode, almost exactly. You'll never grow out of it."

"You think so?"

"Yep, absolutely. Some people are just born to ride."

Bae gave a short hum to himself and looked off to the side. His brow creased for a moment, but then he smirked and looked back to August and the open road ahead. August followed the winding path into the forest and then slowed to a stop and propped the bike up on its stand. Bae dismounted and looked off into the forest, at the overgrown trail leading to the silhouette of a structure surrounded by trees. "I take it that's our destination," he said.

"If I remember right," August replied. They picked their way, Bae first and August second, through the underbrush to the cabin. Along the way, Bae reached out to see if he could feel anything, but the closer they got to the cabin, the more the cabin felt completely normal.

"It should be safe, at least from magical beings. So far as mortals, though, I can't say."

"Shouldn't matter. We're here to check the place out, see if they're here or not, and then we're going back, just as we talked about." Bae nodded, and they approached the cabin. August walked up to the window and peered inside. "Looks like the living room," he said.

"See anyone?"

"Nope, but that's not to say that the place is empty."

"You want us to actually go in?"

"We're just casing the place. Will you relax?"

"I can't. A battle may present itself at any moment. We need to be ready, and you can't when you don't have your guard up."

August sighed and rested his head against the glass, shaking it as well as his state would allow. Bae huffed, walked over to the door, and tried the handle. "Finally," August muttered, walking around so that he was behind the teenager and followed him into the cabin's ground floor, nothing but living room, kitchen, and dining area. "Feel anything?"

"No, nothing. Hear anything?"

August paused and then said, "Nope."

Bae glanced at the hall leading to the back door. "I'll look back there, you've got the front areas. Yell if anything happens."

"Whatever you say, kid." August moved to the dining area, and Bae walked down the hall, listening for creaks in the floorboards. Don't move too quickly, he told himself. Reconnaissance only. See if there are hostages or hostiles present first, then assess the situation and move from there. Morraine would do exactly the same thing, follow exactly the same process.

He smiled at the thought of Morraine, and his muscles uncoiled slightly. She was always so calm in the face of battle, and it made him smile more often than not.

He turned to the first door he saw. It was closed, but he dared not check to see if it was locked, regardless of how normal it felt. He took a deep breath and continued down the hall, feeling his way as much as following his eyes.

"Shh, I hear footsteps," Jefferson whispered from behind a door at the end of the hall. Bae stopped. Someone tapped on the door to his left, and he reached out and tapped in reply.

Someone gasped, and another voice, Belle, whispered, "Is that Rumpelstiltskin?"

"I don't know."

Bae turned and walked briskly down the hall before their conversation could continue, though they would undoubtedly remark upon his departure. He found August in the living room. "I found them," he said.

OUAT

August pulled up in front of Mr. Gold's mansion and waited until Bae dismounted before following suit. Bae handed him his helmet and ran up to the porch. August left his own helmet on the handlebar and removed his gloves before walking inside the mansion.

"What's all the fuss about?" Gold asked, looking from Bae to August.

"We have proof of life for both Jefferson and Belle," August replied.


	13. Of Escapes, Conversations, and Kisses

Of Escapes, Conversations, and Kisses

Rumpelstiltskin drove the car along August's route, with August in the passenger seat to guide him and Bae seated behind him, waiting for the moment to lead the two adults to the hostages that they had all been searching and fearing for. Rumpelstiltskin pulled over on the side of the road, not far from where August parked his bike earlier, and Bae hopped out of the car, followed shortly by his father and the puppet. "This way," he said, turning to the path and picking his way through the underbrush. He tried not to rush, despite the anxiety turning his stomach inside out.

Once they reached the cabin, Bae opened the door and wasted no time leading them down the hall. He stepped back and gestured for Rumpelstiltskin to approach the door and knock. "Rumpelstiltksin?" Belle asked. "Is that you?"

"Belle?" he replied. The door was wrenched open, and faster than one could blink, Belle threw her arms around Rumpelstiltskin's neck, drew back, and pecked him on the lips.

Bae gasped and met Rumpelstiltskin's startled gaze. Belle drew back fully and said, "I'm sorry. I know you..."

"No, no, it's alright," he said gently. "This is...really quite a suprirse. In this world, it's unlikely to find someone alive after they've been held hostage for more than a day or two." He paused briefly, something not lost on Bae. "I'm sorry I let this happen to you."

"They didn't hurt me," she said, almost too quickly. Another thing Bae noticed, and a trick he knew well.

"They didn't?"

"No. They took us from the house, tied our hands behind us, moved us to their car, drove us here, untied us, and left us here."

"Not very good captors."

"True. They didn't even lock our door."

"That's because usually they've got somebody with a sawed-off shotgun right across the hall," Jefferson said, appearing in the doorway. Bae was about to ask when a click echoed from the door behind Rumpelstiltskin. He pushed Belle toward Bae and August, who guided her down the hall and stepped back in their own right. Rumpelstiltskin turned toward the door, and Jefferson stepped out of the room.

"What's going on?" Belle whispered.

"We're not safe," Bae replied. "This, for future reference, is one of the instances where you need to improvise."

"Improvise with what?"

"That's just the thing, though. There is no guide for improvising, just practice."

"Well, I don't see anything here."

"Then we go downstairs."

"Kid, you sure about this?" August asked.

"It may be our chance. Let's go." Bae moved to the living room, followed closely by Belle and a little less so by August. A shot rang out when they were halfway down the stairs. A door fell to pieces, and he thought he heard Jefferson say, "Okay, time to go."

The three spilled into the living room as well as three people could do, and Jefferson and Rumpelstiltskin were close behind. Another shot rang out, closer this time, and loud enough to make Bae jump. A big-shouldered, black-clad man stood at the top of the stairs. "Alright, now what?" Belle asked.

"I don't know. Improvise."

"Chair," she said suddenly.

"Alright, let's go." Bae and Belle moved along the stairwell to the dining area, the thug firing at them all the way. He pushed her ahead of him and turned to watch the thug descend the stairs, still aiming at him. He threw a glance over his shoulder to find Belle armed with the chair, moving, almost gliding, toward them. Bae stepped to the side, making sure the thug would follow him. He backed up toward Rumpelstiltskin, who stepped forward and was only stopped by his son's hand on his chest. Rumpelstiltskin glanced over the thug's shoulder, nodded in understanding, and smiled softly. Bae gave the smallest nod, and Belle rushed up and bashed the chair across his back, breaking a couple of the legs off.

The thug wheeled on Belle, and Bae dove for the two broken legs, tossing one to Rumpelstiltskin as he backed away. Rumpelstiltskin caught the makeshift stake without so much as a glance. Belle took a step back, raising the chair again for another blow. Bae glanced askance at his father and gave another quick nod. "One," he mouthed, turning his eyes back to the thug with the strange-looking gun.

"Two," Rumpelstiltskin mouthed in response.

"Three!" Belle yelled, bringing the chair down on the thug's head like it was the wrath of God. At the same time, Bae and Rumpelstiltskin pushed the chair's two newly-freed legs into the thug's back. She panted and stared at the thug. Bae and his father stepped back as he landed on his back, his weight and the floor of the cabin pushing the stakes deeper into his body.

August walked through the front door, ready to say something, saw the body, and asked, "Whoa, what'd I miss?"

"You wouldn't believe," Belle said. "It took three of us to bring him down."

"Only because the opportunity presented itself," Bae added in a low voice. "Let's get out of here before shotgun's friends come back."

"Sounds like a plan to me," August replied. Belle dropped the remains of the chair and moved toward the door, Bae and Rumpelstiltskin close behind and August bringing up the rear. Bae squeezed into the back seat between Belle and the window. Jefferson was in a similar position, on Belle's opposite side, and August and Rumpelstiltskin returned to the passenger's and driver's seat, respectively.

As they pulled out, Belle threw a look over her shoulder at the swiftly disappearing cabin. She looked back at Bae and whispered, "We just killed another person."

"It's kind of tough to get used to, but when it's kill or be killed, it needs to be done," Bae replied, staring at the seat in front of him blankly. Belle pursed her lips and looked down at her lap. It would be a long, silent ride home.

OUAT

Belle waited until Bae was alone in Rumpelstiltskin's dining room before walking in herself. He was seated at one end of the table, his hands folded on the tabletop, his eyes down until her footsteps prompted him to look up. "Yes?" he asked.

She looked down at her hands, clasping and unclasping them in front of her, and then up at Bae. "You seemed rather...interested in the kiss I shared with your father earlier," she replied.

"For one, all I've ever seen you two do prior to today is hug each other."

"He was so worried about breaking his curse and losing his power the last time I kissed him. I was nervous about doing it again."

"Makes sense."

"But judging by the look in Rumpelstiltskin's eye, there seems to be something more to it than simple surprise."

Bae licked his upper lip. "Please, have a seat." She sat opposite him. "I can't say for certain, but I think you two might have something that will break the knife, my father's knife."

"Breaking a knife should be easy."

"Not this one. The Knife of the Dark One is a magical object and the vessel of power transmission. If you were to kill my father with the knife, you would gain his powers, and thus the cycle would continue. But true love, it has the power to break any curse. Perhaps it could destroy the knife as effectively as a sensitive such as myself pulling some of my father's power out of him to use to save his life later. And it's certainly less dangerous."

"Less dangerous than...than what?"

"Than allowing his power to eat away at me."

"But how do you know you could do it, if it came to it?"

Bae described in brief his encounter with the cloud in Regina's basement, emphasizing the moment when he'd told the cloud to shut up and get back, his exact words. "And the strange thing is," he said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I think it obliged."

"You forced it back?" Bae nodded. "And you think, if you can push, you can pull?"

Again, Bae nodded. "But I'm afraid I'll be taken down with him if I fail, which is why I haven't told him this yet, though he probably figured it out."

"But if true love's kiss can break any curse, then you wouldn't need to risk yourself." She knit her brow and looked down and to the side slightly at the tabletop. "But there's something else. Last time, he thought I was working for Regina, conspiring against him. I want this time to be an honest kiss, to mean something other than an attempt to break a curse. I won't get anywhere unless this condition is met, and that's a personal thing."

"Why's that?"

"Bae, I love him. I love your father. I think, someday, I might be your stepmother."

Bae blushed. "I hope you understand that I might have a hard time adjusting, if this is so. My mother left us when I was two, and I haven't had a mother since. This will be...different."

Belle nodded and pursed her lips. "I understand."

"Bae, a word?" Rumpelstiltskin asked from the foyer.

"I'd better go," he said. She nodded to him as he left.

"You never told me you were planning on risking your life," Rumpelstiltskin whispered as soon as Bae reached him.

"I didn't want to worry you," Bae replied. "Besides, now I might not have to. Surely if you heard that, you heard everything else."

"Including Belle's reservations."

"Look at it this way, if worse comes to worst, we have a back-up plan, which is never in bad form."

"Which is the main plan, then?"

"I can't be sure yet. The opportunity and its circumstances haven't presented themselves yet." Rumpelstiltskin nodded, and Bae lowered his voice. "If you've heard Belle's reservations, then you've also heard her plans for the future?" Rumpelstiltskin nodded.

"Well, Bae, whatever course of action you take in this matter of yours, I wish you luck."

"Thanks, Papa."

Rumpelstiltskin took his son into his arms, squeezed gently, patted him twice on the back, and then released him. With a smile, he squeezed Bae's shoulder and said, "I'll let you go now." Bae nodded his thanks and returned to the dining room.

"All is well, I take it?" Belle asked.

"As well as can be expected," Bae replied. "I surprised my father a bit, but he understands."

"That's good, right?"

"With my father and concerning my safety, as good as it gets."

OUAT

Morraine returned to the edge of Storybrooke and stepped onto the hard path that led away from it. She had no idea where to find Rumpelstiltskin when he wasn't at his shop, but perhaps she could get directions from someone. Or she could find Bae the way storied lovers were always able to do, through sheer instinct and their desire to be together. But those were just stories, she told herself.

The lights of the town, what few twinkled in the twilight as the sunlight danced over the various surfaces, flickered through the trees on either side of the path she was taking. A few people walked back home in the dusk, and she stopped a bespectacled man in something resembling Rumpelstiltskin's suit and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but do you know where I might find Rumpelstiltskin at this hour?" The man blinked, but he nodded pointed down the street and gave her directions. "Thank you," Morraine said when he finished.

"Sure thing," the man replied. He nodded to her and continued on his way, and Morraine set off down the path, hoping she could follow his directions.

Soon, her footsteps were the sole sound in the silence of the twilight in Storybrooke. She adjusted the bow and quiver strapped to her back, but she felt reasonably safe. She turned a corner, listened, got her bearings, and continued on. Finally, she found the black, red, and gold castle described to her. The facade looked too smooth to scale, and it seemed there would be no aid in sight, unlike Regina's back wall. Even so, she walked around to the back, hoping the picture would change. It didn't.

Here goes, she told herself as she walked back around to the front door and knocked. For a moment, she waited for Rumpelstiltskin to answer the door and begin to grill her as to the purpose of her visit, but she caught a break when the door opened and she saw Bae's eyes brighten. "I was beginning to wonder about you," he said, stepping aside and gesturing for her to enter. She crossed the threshold and faced him, waiting for him to close the door. "I take it you asked directions?"

"Had no choice," she replied.

"I have something to show you." Bae walked into the living room, and after a moment, Morraine followed him. What she saw on the sofa stopped her cold.

"Are those..."

"Yeah."

"Where did you..."

"A cabin in the woods."

"Why were they..."

"No idea."

Morraine took one step forward. "Jefferson? Belle?" Both people on the sofa looked up from whatever they were focusing on.

"I see you have a bow and quiver with you," Belle said. "Perhaps we may continue lessons?"

"If he's some space to spare," Morraine replied with a smile. Belle smiled in response.

"And...there's something else," Bae said in a darker voice. "Excuse us," he said to the two on the couch before guiding Morraine upstairs to his room, a previously locked, somewhat dusty, modest affair with all the clothes he was able to fit into on the day he left neatly folded in the dresser.

"He saved this for you?"

"This isn't what I wanted you to know about. It's just a private place where we can talk."

"Talk about what?"

Bae gestured for her to take a seat on the bed, sat next to her, and told her his tale about Regina's basement and what transpired there after she was cut off from him. She took his hand, and her eyes were fixed on him. Her pallor deepened as he continued, but she listened patiently nonetheless. "...and now I have two methods of breaking the knife that both might work but can't be tested until proving time comes," he said in conclusion. "Putting my sensitivity to use, and Belle's love of him."

"And you think they can work?"

"One, at least."

Morraine nodded. "At least we have something to work with. We can build a strategy with that."

"So, we can make something that works."

"Exactly."

Bae nodded slowly, chewed his lip, and looked down at the floor. He felt Morraine's fingers brush against his, and he laced their hands together in response. He looked up at her, and she smiled. His face flushed. Wow.

She leaned in toward him, her eyes half-lidded. He waited for his heart to stop pounding out of his chest, but no dice. Instead, the closer she came, the more his heart pounded. She closed her eyes fully, and on instinct, Bae closed the rest of the short distance between them.

In one instant, the world shrunk down to the two of them sitting on the bed. The deeper the kiss became, the less the outside world mattered, and the less Bae listened to his rational mind, no doubt yelling futilely at him to wonder what would happen if his father, or worse, anyone else, caught them snogging on the bed. Alone. Sans chaperone. Where anything could happen.

Carefully, Bae broke contact. "I don't want anything bad to happen," he whispered. "I don't want to hurt you."

"That's sweet," she replied, kissing him on the cheek. "That's really sweet."

"Thanks."

"But in case you get the wrong idea somewhere in that mind of yours, you're a fantastic kisser, and I really enjoyed it." Bae found himself grinning like an idiot, and Morraine smiled at him.

"If...if you want, I can help you settle into one of the guest rooms, or...or something."

"I'd like that."


	14. Nightmare Come Alive

Nightmare Come Alive

Bae shifted in his sleep. Something was waking him, some sensation that threatened to ruin his peaceful sleep, punctuated by the memory of his kiss with Morraine. It reminded him of the time the Blue Fairy brought August back to life and inadvertantly roused and drew him.

August. He really ought to pay that puppet a visit at some point.

In the morning, he decided, rolling over, getting comfortable, and trying to go back to sleep.

But the sensation persisted. He groaned, still barely conscious but coming, and started to rub the sleep from his eyes. Instead, he rolled onto his front and continued his quest for sleep. The sensation crept closer, and Bae got his forearms under him, ready to shoot up and give the intruder a piece of his mind, when he felt a point, sharp and cold, press into the nape of his neck. And he froze.

Adrenaline completed his waking cycle, but his rational mind was still quite strong, telling him not to make any sudden movements for fear of swift and sure decapitation. Slowly, he turned his head, testing his boundaries more than anything else. He steadied his breathing and took in the sensation to his left. It was distinct from that of the knife pressed to his neck, and when he focused on the knife, he recognized its power, its magic.

And there was no way in hell his father would turn the knife on him.

Someone else was here, and this was getting very dangerous, very fast.

He maneuvered so that the tip of the knife barely touched his neck, and he managed to make it to his side, where his hand shot up and grabbed the hilt-

-from midair.

No one was holding the knife, so what was suspending it?

The thought barely crossed his mind. The presence had reacted violently to the lack of the knife in its possession; it lunged toward him. He rolled off the bed and stumbled back, the knife in a position chosen more for slashing than stabbing, and he peered into the darkness, toward the shapeless mass that blotted everything behind it out. Oh, gods. It really was here, in his room, and try as he might, he couldn't find the voice to call for his father.

The cloud crept toward him, and he inched toward the door, the knife in front of him. He opened the door with his free hand and moved onto the balcony overlooking the foyer. The mass approached him, and he leapt over the banister. The mass followed, condensed into a familiar form, and in Bae's shock, he released his grip on the knife.

A cold hand shot out from the cloud, and the rest of the woman followed. Bae's breath caught in his throat upon seeing Regina's frozen gaze and expressionless face. In one fluid movement, she whipped the knife out of his hand and pointed it at him as if it were a sword. Her lip curled up in a smirk. She shifted her grip on the knife and sliced through the air at an angle, but there was no doubt as to where he was aiming.

She was about to slash through his neck.

OUAT

Bae started and blinked, confused as to why he was back in his room. His first thought was that he was waking from a nightmare. But that was his rational mind, and his blood was pumping. He rolled over, waiting for the cold touch of his father's knife.

But if he was dreaming, he felt something, and he never felt anything in his dreams. The sensation of evil and desperation even lingered on his skin. In his need to shake it, he all but leapt out of bed, walked onto the balcony, and had to pause. Something long and silver caught the light of the sunrise, which was still red-orange.

He moved down the stairs, feeling for anything other than his father and the knife, namely the sensation that he felt in his dream. If it could be found again.

Relax, the still stupidly rational part of him said. You were dreaming.

But I'm a sensitive, he responded, and I never feel anything in my dreams. If this is anything, anything at all, then either I'm evolving or Regina's breaking out of jail. Or both.

The last filled him with dread, but he continued on nonetheless, until he stood not one foot from the knife, staring down at his shadow and the decoration on the blade. Rumpelstiltskin's name wasn't facing up. Was that an accident? Or was it posed?

He turned and walked back up the stairs, following the faint trail of the Dark One to his father's bedroom. He opened the door to find Rumpelstiltskin sitting on the bed, staring at his hands. "Papa..." Bae whispered. "Papa."

"Bae?" Rumpelstiltskin stood and walked over to his son.

Bae leaned in, desperate for something other than the strangeness of the morning, and winced. The fabric of his shirt barely brushed against his neck, but he was wounded. He reached up and felt the collar, torn near the collarbone, and when he looked down, he saw some blood outlining a tear in the material that stretched for the better part of a foot across his chest and toward his side. "Papa," he said, stepping back and skinking to his knees. "What happened to me? What's going on? What happened last night?"

"Bae, there...she came."

"I didn't dream it."

"No, Bae."

"What happened after she..."

"Tried to kill you? I walked out onto the field of battle, and it stopped. It stopped, Bae."

"Then how did I wake up in bed?"

"I think the shock and the confusion were too much for you. You didn't seem to know where you were. You fainted, Bae." Bae curled into himself and leaned toward his father, who took him into his arms. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

"I felt her. I felt her closing in, ready to kill me."

"It's over now."

"Where did she go?"

"She disappeared before I could do something suitably painful to her. Gone in a cloud of smoke."

"How long was I in the basement, a few days ago?"

"What?"

"How long was I in the basement, talking to...to Zoso?"

"A little over twenty-four hours."

"That's why all those people were there?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "They thought you'd disappeared, that you'd been killed."

"Did you?"

"I had my fears, Bae, but I trust you. If you didn't survive, I know you'd have put up a fight trying." He pressed closer to his father, who tightened his hold on him. Rumpelstiltskin stroked Bae's hair, and in spite of everything, Bae began to relax.

"I thought I was dreaming the whole time," Bae whispered. "Now I find that last night really happened...Papa, I'm so confused."

"It's alright, Bae. It's alright."

"It's strange, so strange. I felt everything, but I felt like I was dreaming. Now, I've been awakened by magic before, but the knife, and Regina..." Bae shook his head. "I have no idea what just happened."

Rumpelstiltskin opened his mouth, ready to reassure his son, but he knew what he was about to say next was an outright lie. Bae must've sensed this, because he pulled back and stared blankly at him. Rumpelstiltskin knew exactly what his boy was thinking, and he knew he was thinking the same thing. "She's out of her prison," Bae whispered. "She found a way. The magic here, it's just waiting to be used, and she's giving it a chance, something to do. If you didn't show up when you did, she would have the knife, and I would be dead."

"No," Rumpelstiltskin said fiercely. "No," he repeated, more gently. "I'd never let that happen." Never. He took Bae's head in his hands and kissed his son's forehead.

"Papa, wars have casualties."

"I know."

"These things happen, people die. I'm not familiar with a field of mass combat the way Morraine is, but I've seen carnage. The gods know Sherwood had no shortage of it." Bae couldn't help but smirk, though the events of the previous night didn't merit such lightheartedness. He smiled, leaned into his father, and allowed himself to relax.

OUAT

Emma returned from the filing cabinet and picked up her bag lunch, flopping into the chair and heaving a sigh. Finally, she thought, opening the bag and pulling out a sandwich in a small plastic bag. "Yo, Reg, as long as you're there, maybe you want my-" Emma looked up from her sandwich at the cell across from her, blinked, and wiped her eyes. "Working the late shift is doing a number on me. There's no way..."

She stared at the cell, but Regina wasn't waking up. The vaguely body-shaped lump on the bed was still as a rock. "How did I fall for that?" she asked, setting the sandwich down on her desk. She continued to take in the scene, and her jaw hung slack.

She walked over to the cell door, tried it, found it locked and holding fast. She looked back to her desk; the keys to the cells in the office were still on her desk. "Oh, damn," she whispered.


	15. Emma's Resolve, Bae and Morraine's Compa

Emma's Resolve, Bae and Morraine's Companionship

Gold had just finished wiping his counter off when Emma stormed into the shop. "She's missing," she said. "Somehow slipped out of her cell when I wasn't looking."

"Like magic?" he offered.

"You know what? Yeah." Gold looked at her in earnest. "What? You think I'm gonna pass out or something?"

"I've been expecting it for some time, but that's beside the point. When did you notice anything unusual?"

"When I finally got to eating my lunch. Twelve hours after I was supposed to."

"You didn't...feel anything?"

"Feel anything?"

"You know, magic?"

She knit her brow and shook her head. "...No." Gold nodded. "Wait, you think I might be like your kid."

He smirked and glanced at the floor. "An astute young woman," he said, looking back at Emma. "I can't say how many times I've met someone your age who still thought they were invincible, never once cared for the consequences of their actions and always believed they would live forever, no matter what mistakes they made."

Emma merely nodded briefly. "Yeah, well, just figured you'd want to know about Regina, considering your vendetta against her."

"I already know, Miss Swan. She attacked my son."

"She just can't stop, can she?"

"I think she's out to get me."

"Maybe she is." She turned toward the front door, then looked over her shoulder. "Regina Mills is now at large, armed with magic, and very dangerous. If you see her, anywhere at all, let me know."

"I will," he said with a curt nod. "I wish you the best, Emma."

"Thanks."

Emma turned and walked out of the shop, something swirling about in her mind, just beneath her consciousness. Just as she tried to push it back to where it belonged, she understood it. Jailing this woman wasn't going to work.

OUAT

Bae and Morraine met in her room, where they talked about everything that had happened thus far. For Bae, it had the benefit of letting a lot of it off his chest, and for Morraine, it was a learning and strategizing experience.

Finally, after several hours, Bae sank back on the bed, his arms spread out and his throat raw from talking for so long. "Our lives are a mess," he whispered.

Morraine smirked at him. "You've a rather nice habit of saying that," she replied.

"You think so?"

"Yes."

"Uh...thanks."

Morraine chuckled and lay beside him, shifting so that her neck rested on his arm. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, careful about the placement of his fingertips. "Bae, you do realize that a lot of what we just talked about isn't even our problem, right?"

"Yes. It's Emma's job to break the curse, her being the Savior, as I've been told. But that doesn't mean we can't just hide from the world and wait for her to actually get around to doing her job. We have things to do, too, you know."

"I know."

"But you are still troubled."

"This is a different kind of fight. This isn't a fight to keep our lives and remove the threat. It's less a fight for survival as it is a battle between good and evil."

"What side is your father on?"

"Whatever side Regina isn't. Good and evil are fluid concepts, and a lot of politics have come into play. Of course, I won't bother with that unless I had a reason to."

"But if you were forced to choose, where would your loyalties lie?"

"Against the woman who attacked me multiple times."

"Then what is this fight for you? Is it like it was with the prince in Sherwood, where all you wanted was to stay alive?"

Bae closed his eyes and let out a heavy breath. Why was he fighting still, even after Prince John was killed in a basement by his father? The answer, he soon saw, was deceptively simple. He opened his eyes and whispered, "I want to go home."

Morraine tilted her head toward his shoulder. He squeezed her shoulders gently. "Home," she whispered. "As good a reason as any."

"What's this fight for you?"

"I've been at this for years to your months, Bae. I'm just tired of the fight. I want it to end, but to be honest, I want it to end well."

"Well as in, we win?"

"What better way to end a fight?"

Bae nodded. "It's almost over. We're close to the Enchanted Forest, and the two sources of magic will have to find a way to coexist."

"Do you think it can be done?"

"If not, they will stay in their separate worlds, one here, one in the Enchanted Forest. Either way, when this is over, it's all up in the air as far as magic goes."

"Do you think everything will be back to normal?"

"As close to normal as it gets, and I really hope so."

"It seems like you and your father are getting on well. He's not trying to kill us for whatever reasons he dreams up to do so."

"That's good."

"Any word from your new friend? August, is it?"

"Yes, that's his name. No on the news department, but being a wooden puppet that walks and talks by itself doesn't exactly do wonders for one's social life." Morraine chuckled, and Bae couldn't help but blush.

"Of course, having the Dark One as your father puts you in the same position, come to think of it."

Bae cracked a smile and shortly after burst into a fit of laughter. "I told you our lives were a mess," he said. "Look at us. Lovers in the middle of a war we're only in for ourselves, telling lame jokes to each other." He chuckled. "I can't wait till this is over and our lives go back to normal."

"Will our lives ever be normal again?"

"I hope so, but I doubt it."


	16. Trying to Come to Terms and an Offer of

Trying to Come to Terms and an Offer of Lessons

Emma sat across the island from Mary Margaret-Snow White-and fingered a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon. She took a sip and said, "Regina escaped last night."

"Did she?" Snow asked, looking up from her own cup with a whipped-cream-and-cinnamon moustache.

"Yeah, by magic. Apparently she attacked that kid again. You know, Gold's son. I think she has it out for him and his family. Kidnapping Belle and Jefferson by way of thugs, and she keeps trying to kill that boy."

"And to keep that kid safe..."

"...jailing Regina isn't going to work." Again, they had come to the white elephant standing in the corner, next to the lamp and failing to blend in. "How long have you known it would come to this?"

"Ever since we got our memories back. You?"

"Pretty much ever since I started believing, so about the same time, I guess." Snow nodded. "I just...I just don't think I'm up to it." Snow nodded again. "Well, you're my mom, or you're supposed to be. Aren't you supposed to have any motherly wisdom?"

Snow merely shrugged. "Wish I knew what to say, but my experience with breaking curses is Charming breaking them for me."

"Fantastic, but I'm not sure I wanna ask him for tips, and I certainly don't want to kiss Regina. I don't know if you've noticed, but she's not exactly my type."

Snow smirked, and they both chuckled softly to their mugs of cinammon hot chocolate. But Emma couldn't bring herself to keep up the happy mood. "So I guess I kinda have to do this," she said after a long moment. "Ugh, I'm not gonna be happy about it."

"She did take away all of our happy endings, ripped Charming's and my love apart, and did everything in her power to try to keep you from your son. She basically tried to destroy all of us so she would come out on top. If I were you, I'd jump on the chance to get rid of this bitch."

"Well, you're not me. I am."

"I know, and that's what makes you so special."

OUAT

August finished waxing the bike, wiped his wooden hands off, and walked out of the parking garage. When he returned to his apartment, he tossed the rag into the hamper and moved to the desk to write, well, something, anything buzzing around in his head.

He stopped short when he saw Bae sitting on his bed. "You know, there's such a thing as knocking."

"Don't want others knowing where or who I am," he replied. "Regina has apparently escaped from prison, and she's after me in earnest. I'm almost convinced of it, though the only reason I can fathom why is to keep her curse active so she gets her happy ending and we're the ones stuck here in the middle of a hell frozen in time."

"Well, you've got a point there. Okay, kid, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see if you were still alive, since I almost got attacked in my sleep last night."

"By Regina?"

"The same."

"And she disappeared afterward?"

"Yep. I heard from people about town that she'd escaped her prison cell. The response is a mix of anger and fear."

"Makes sense. Crazy bitch decided to curse basically everybody and screw them all over, but she is incredibly powerful."

"If her magic is anything to go by."

August walked over and sat on the bed, one leg on, one leg dangling off. "Okay, kid, so Regina's out to get you, probably targeting your dad. I saw how much he loves you when I pretended to be you."

"You did what?"

"I was turning to wood and I knew in a magic-less world I would die, but for some weird-ass reason, I thought I could still control your father through his knife. I'm an opportunist. He wanted me to be you, I played along to get the knife, it didn't work, and look at me now."

"He saw through you, I bet."

"After a little bit, yes."

"No wonder he talks of you coldly."

"Wouldn't be surprised. I kinda do deserve it."

"He didn't kill you because you were going to die anyway. That's the only reason."

"He knows I'm alive now, so why am I not dead yet?"

"Because I know you and we talked about the whole killing-people-to-protect-me thing, and you did help me save Belle and Jefferson, so that probably plays into it, too."

"Your dad's a strange man."

"An enigma in a strange-looking suit."

August chuckled, and Bae allowed himself a laugh, as well. "I guess as long as we're friends and I help keep you safe, I'm doing alright."

"Seems so."

"So, anything new on the battlefront besides you being attacked in the middle of a night by a psychotic witch?"

"Nope."

"Okay, kid, how's about you take a break from all this tactical thinking crap and let me teach you how to work the bike."

"The metal steed, you mean."

"Whatever you wanna call it. Wanna see how it works?"

"You mean I can learn to ride it? All by myself?"

"Yeah. You like the ride?"

"Very much so."

August smiled, and he gestured to the door with his head. "C'mon, I'll show you how the steed works." Bae grinned.


	17. Peace Broken

Peace Broken

Several days passed in a strange monotony, one that reminded Bae of his time in Sherwood, where his time was spent in all manner of survival-related activities. Only this time it was much more pleasant. He rotated out with the other Merry Men on teaching Belle to shoot properly, occasionally watched Jesse run through a few knife routines she hardly ever used, judging by her own comments on them, and continued to learn his way around a motorcycle, a strange, two-wheeled device that could take him anywhere a tank of a substance called gasoline could take him. Once, he almost struck a flint near one of the containers of this substance in August's apartment. Needless to say, August was about ready to have a heart attack, if he could. Only after he calmed down did the puppet explain that Bae could've sent the whole building up in flames. With a mix of shame and relief, he placed the stones in August's waiting palm.

During his free time, Bae would walk to the pawn shop his father ran and peruse the items, in most cases not sure whether to touch them for fear of causing some other accident. After all, most of the items were unfamiliar to him. When he wasn't examining strange shapes and sizes and combinations of things and parts of things, he would spend his time talking to his father, usually on walks home or on slow days when he retreated to his office. They talked of almost anything, from their pasts and adventures to current events to even swapping random jokes between them.

At one point, during a walk home, Bae sighed and said, "I enjoy this," he said. "Talking this way."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled and wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders. "So do I," he whispered. "I'm glad you're happy, Bae. That's all I ever wanted." Bae wrapped an arm around his father's back and squeezed gently. In two seconds, he found himself in a full-on hug, his cheek pressed against his father's suit. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Papa."

They pulled away from each other, and they continued down the sidewalk. Bae couldn't help but think that for the first time in a very long time, he felt perfectly normal.

OUAT

Rumpelstiltskin continued to keep tabs on Emma, between spending time with his son and Belle and running his shop. He no longer felt the need to collect rent. He was already fully invested in his pet project-the breaking of the curse and his subsequent fresh start, where and when that might be.

He had noticed Belle's shoulders and arms becoming more defined, and that she was bonding with Bae and the other Merry Men over a bow and arrow. He also noticed the way Bae and Morraine looked at and talked to each other. Watching these interactions made Rumpelstiltskin smile. There was a light in Bae's eyes that he hadn't seen in quite a while, too long. She made him smile. Rumpelstiltskin resolved that Morraine would never be harmed, just as he'd resolved of Bae long ago. They would both be protected, he told himself.

One afternoon, Bae pulled an arrow out of a bag of rice fashioned into a target and studied the head closely. "What happened to it?" Belle asked, lowering the bow and walking toward him.

"Nothing," Bae replied. "I'm just studying it. Arrows are difficult to make and can be incredibly expensive." He handed the arrow back to Belle, who slipped it back into her quiver. "How are you feeling? Are you sore?"

"I feel good."

"Alright, that's good. I bet it's getting easier." Belle nodded. Bae stepped away from the target and watched her draw the bow for another shot. She purposefully aimed above her previous shot to avoid tearing the bag and spilling rice everywhere. Bae smirked at this little tick of hers, but he remained silent and studied her form instead. Anchored, from his angle no visible flaws in the bend of the arms, gaze down the shaft of the arrow at the target. She released when ready. No extra force or movement. Beautifully done. The arrow struck the rice bag almost exactly where she'd aimed. He nodded in approval and turned toward Rumpelstiltskin. "She's doing well," Bae said. "I'm fairly confident she can hold her own, though I doubt you'll let her." He smiled.

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes drifted to Belle, who nocked a third arrow and chose to aim left. "She'll be fine," he said.

"Yes, she will." At close range against inanimate targets, he added mentally. "How much time do we have until the battle?"

"Not long. Emma has been placed on the path. If she hadn't made her choice yet, she will soon." If she doesn't do something to avert all-out war entirely, Rumpelstiltskin thought.

"And we'll all be forced to choose sides and march off to war. Come to think of it, it's actually kind of daunting, the thought that you're going to fight for your life soon, especially when you haven't for quite some time. Some people think war is grand and glorious, and then it's upon them, and they turn and run when they see the truth. Fighting is dirty business. There's nothing grand about it." Rumpelstiltskin turned his full attention toward his son. After a moment, Bae noticed this and met his father's gaze. "That's what you thought, wasn't it?"

"Once upon a time," Rumpelstiltskin whispered. "Once upon a time."

Bae nodded, and they both watched Belle finish practicing.

OUAT

The sensation that the peace had broken woke Bae from sleep, the third time his sensitivity to magic had done so. Before he rose, he felt around him to make sure there wasn't a presence in the room with him, waiting to strike. When he confirmed to himself that he was safe, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. There he stopped.

Nothing was in the room with him, magical or otherwise, but there was something in the house, moving almost as if it were perusing a market. Gingerly, he slipped out of bed, unwilling to take his eyes off the door. He eased over toward the bookcase, slung his quiver over his shoulder, and picked up his bow. Then he slipped out of his room altogether, silently shutting the door behind his back.

The presence stopped its rounds. Perhaps it noticed him, or perhaps it was waiting for him. Bae wasn't sure he wanted to stick around to find out which one it was, but he didn't know what other option he had, so he took an arrow from his quiver and nocked it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fighting to keep calm and silent. The presence, which felt eerily similar to Regina, was at the end of the hall, to his right. He turned, his weapon in front of him, and approached slowly. He sensed his father, fast asleep and apparently oblivious to the obvious threat to his life that Regina's presence here presented.

So it was her, part of him thought. He pushed this thought to the backburner and began to formulate a plan. He kept his breathing deep but quiet to keep his hands from shaking while staying in hiding. The presence continued its rounds seemingly without noticing him. It brushed right past him on its way to the stairs, so Bae turned slowly to follow it. It moved down the stairs and an aisle, into a room Bae recognized as his father's home office, even if he didn't recognize most of its contents. Regina stepped out of what seemed to be thin air. Bae bit his lip.

Regina walked around the desk, her fingertips trailing across the wood. She picked up a few items, books and boxes, and opened a couple drawers. Bae watched in increasing anxiety as she rifled through the drawers and then picked up a box and opened it. Please, please don't let her find the knife, he mentally begged.

She closed the box and set it down, muttering something to herself, and then she walked out of the office, again seeming not to notice Bae. He turned and again followed Regina, this time back upstairs. Bae tried to think of a way to reach his father, perhaps warn him before she got there.

It's alright, Bae. You're the brave one. He told you so. You can do this. If only you knew how. He stepped toward Regina and his father's door. Regina tried the door, smiled, and eased it open. Bae's heart began to pound so loudly that he swore she could hear it. She disappeared inside the room, and Bae followed.

Regina stepped over to the bed, smirked, turned toward the bureau, and scanned the top of it. Bae took a step, and the floor creaked under him. Her head snapped over toward him, and in one moment, she flicked her wrist and sent him flying back into the wall. The bow and arrow clattered to the floor. He tried to move, but he was completely and magically bound. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" she asked, walking toward him. "It looks like someone's trying to stop me. I take it," she gestured behind her, "that's dear old Dad in the bed, there."

"You shut up about my father," Bae snapped.

"What on earth..." Rumpelstiltskin began, reaching over to turn on his bedside lamp and then sitting up. "I try to get a good night's rest, and I find that you're trapping my son against my own bedroom wall. And what on earth are you doing here in the first place, Regina?" He stood and walked toward her. "Put him down."

She turned to face him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Put. Him. Down."

She grabbed the knife on top of the dresser. "Why? Either way, you're going to keep us all here."

"Papa, don't do anything rash. She's desperate," Bae said. "There's no telling who won't survive this."

Regina wheeled, the knife pointed at Bae. "You shut up. He's not going to listen to you."

"Actually, I am," Rumpelstiltskin said. "After all, he is my son."

"He didn't listen to you the first time, did he? When he dropped you down a vortex to the gods know where?"

"You shut up," Bae yelled. Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand behind Regina's neck. Bae dropped to the floor and grabbed his bow and arrow. Regina pitched over, barely staying on her feet, and then turned toward Rumpelstiltskin.

"How dare you," she hissed, driving the knife into Rumpelstiltskin's chest. Without a second thought, Bae fired an arrow into Regina's hand. She let go immediately, and Rumpelstiltskin pulled the knife out and tossed it aside. Regina ripped the arrow out of her hand and turned on Bae, who made his way around the bedroom toward his father. Regina moved toward the knife, snatched it off the floor, and turned back to the father and son. Together, they moved toward the door. Regina lunged toward Rumpelstiltskin, who pushed his son out the door. She stabbed him again and ran out the door, and he collapsed with half his body in the hallway.

"Papa," Bae whispered.

Bae took his father's hand in his own. Rumpelstiltskin whispered, "You made a deal, and I won't let you break it."

"Belle..."

"Bae, we can't worry her, not now. Bae, this has to work perfectly, and right now, you're the only one that can make sure it does." Rumpelstiltskin squeezed his son's hand. "Baelfire, my life in your hands."


	18. The Light

The Light

Emma sipped from a cup of coffee, looked at Henry over his hot chocolate with cinnamon, and then glanced at the door. For some reason, an eerie silence settled over the threesome, Snow White included, and it seemed they all knew why. It was time.

"Open the door," Regina yelled.

Emma unholstered her service weapon and said, "Henry, Snow, get down and stay there."

OUAT

Bae pulled away as Rumpelstiltskin fell limp and then stared at his own hand, tinged green and scaly, but the strangeness showed no signs of spreading. In one instant, he realized two things: his hand was numb, and the rest of him keenly felt the magic there. He left me some of his power, he thought, with a clear purpose. If he survives this, the knife breaks. Magic always comes with a price, there's always a way to break a curse, sometimes more than one.

OUAT

Regina kicked open the door to find Emma pointing a gun straight at her head. "Always with the guns, Sheriff Swan?" she asked.

"Never bring a knife to a gun fight," Emma replied, glancing at the bloody knife in her hand.

"At least I'm not afraid to hide behind distance."

"Regina, listen to me. You're insane. You've literally lost your mind to...to whatever evil possessed you. I don't know what happened to you to make you this way, but you need help."

"You still have to kill me."

"I never _wanted_. To kill you." she yelled. She lowered her voice and added, "I still don't." Regina approached, only to stop when Emma cocked the gun. Emma noticed that Regina's eyes appeared more lizard-like. "Regina, I can get you some help. We can fix this."

Regina blinked. Her eyes appeared normal. "Fix this?"

"Yes. We can fix this. We can get you the help that you need. Right now you've literally lost your mind, but we can get it back."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you'd never do something this rash. You're twisted, yes, but you'd never do something you didn't plan out first."

Regina flipped the knife over. Her eyes returned to their previous reptilianness, and with a strange cry, she charged. Emma fired twice without knowing what she was doing.

OUAT

Bae carefully rolled his father onto his back and glanced at the two wounds on his chest, quickly determining that the more fatal of the two was in the center. He took a deep breath, realizing that his breath was shaky, and then lay his hand on the wound. Another deep breath, this time visualizing the flow of magic. For the first time since this mess started, he felt certain. He knew what he was doing, had a plan, and was acting.

On exhale, he forced the magic out of his body.

OUAT

Emma sank to her knees and watched the knife in Regina's hand vibrate ever more violently until it shattered. Henry and Snow peeked out of their hiding places, but they didn't see much before a white light filled the room.

OUAT

Morraine poked her head out the door and rubbed her sleepy eyes, wondering if the commotion she'd just heard was a dream. She saw Bae kneeling over Rumpelstiltskin, sprawled out in the hallway, and knew it wasn't, but before she could utter a syllable, the entire building was consumed by light.

OUAT

The first thing Bae felt past the overwhelming sense of magic was the cold. The air was almost frozen, it seemed. Bae shuddered, let out a breath to find that he could see it, wiped his mouth on his sleeve. He lay across his father's chest in an effort to keep warm.

The magic passed, leaving behind it nothing but cold and the dampness of snow. He peered up, and found a large circle of black trees, of which the denizens of Storybrooke were in the center. He sensed a barrier, beyond which was the magic of the world they had just come from. No. Barrier wasn't the right word. Bridge. That was a good one.

He rested his head, tempted to fall asleep. Another unfamiliar world, another place to pass through before he reached home. He sighed and curled into himself as much as his position allowed. Rumpelstiltskin lay a hand on his shoulder. Bae noticed that his father was dressed in leather, and his skin was green and scaly, just like it was before Bae involuntarily started his apparent career of dimension-hopping. He felt something warm, pleasant. Papa had his powers. Must've gotten them from the knife.

His thoughts slowed until he slipped into a dream. All the spirits of Dark Ones past gathered behind Zoso, though Regina was conspicuously absent. Zoso smiled at him and gave a mock salute. Bae found himself smiling in return, knowing he still had to call in a favor but blissfully ignoring the fact.

For now.

The vision faded to black.


End file.
